Students by Night

Not all Lasallians are created equal. There are those (like Kiko Pangilinan or Ralph Recto or Ace Barbers or Randy and Rowell Santiago or Ogie Alcasid or Gary V) who rise above their peers to achieve fame and fortune. But there are also those who remain nameless and faceless yet whose greatness lie in their mere survival. You could say the difference between such students are, pun intended, like night and day.

Joel de Lota, now 26, used to walk all the way from his home in Tondo to the gates of La Salle Greenhills to attend night school from Monday to Friday. He earned a living buying and selling junk. His work starts before 5 am and ends at 4 pm, after which he immediately leaves for school.

Like many other working students, Joel is the breadwinner of the family. He takes care of his paralyzed mother, his unwed sister and her three children. Both his father and brother died peddling junk. Getting an education (after being out of school for a decade) gives Joel a chance at a better life. At present, he divides his day between a full-time job as factory worker and classes at the La Salle Green Hills Adult Night School (LSGH-ANHS). He recently purchased a second-hand bicycle which makes it easier to commute from Tondo to Greenhills.

The 23-year-old Nancy Asuncion was a widow with two children when she started studying at ANHS. While hitting the books, she worked first as a meat vendor and later as a domestic helper. She was valedictorian of Batch 2002.

Nanay Lily Orense, at 67, is the second oldest (the oldest is Tatay Nick Aranas who graduated at the age of 73) alumni of ANHS. The laundry woman and vendor persevered with her studies for four years. During graduation rites last March, she was given the Hot Shot Award for academic excellence as well as commendable determination to complete the course despite all odds.

There are over 800 other students whose stories mirror those of Joel, Nancy and Nanay Lily. Domestic helpers, factory workers, street vendors, janitors, taxi drivers stand at attention every 5 pm on the La Salle grounds for the flag ceremony. After singing the national anthem and declaring the Panatang Makabayan, they raise their clenched fists for a passionate rendition of the school song. Every blessed school day, it is this moment that reminds them that they are, indeed, Lasallians.

The difference between night and day became apparent in 1978 when the La Salle Brothers established the Adult Night High School. That was the year that they coined the terms "Day School" (referring to the population of regular paying high school students who attend classes in the day time) and "Night School" (referring to the students who use the same facilities from 5:30 to 9 pm). The distinction is a politically-correct one since the two share the same curriculum and–at one point–the same teachers.

"Our objectives are to provide a terminal secondary education for poor adult students; to develop entrepreneurship among the trainees; to provide value formation to concerned trainees and to assist students in getting employment," explains ANHS Principal Tere Gorayeb. "In short, the ANHS was created to give La Sallian education to the marginalized. That’s in keeping with the mission/vision of our founder, St. John Baptist de la Salle. Twenty-four years ago, we only had 16 students and four teachers, all from the Day School...volunteers who considered the ANHS as their apostolate. Back then, they were given an honorarium for the extra work. After only five years, six out of the 16 students graduated. The ANHS was only offering formal education in the beginning. It was after our fifth year that we began offering non-formal education or vocational courses such as computer, basic accounting, public relations, cooking, automative, etc. These non-formal courses are the same practical arts taken by our Day High School students."

The Night School is being run by three administrators, 13 full-time teachers, two guidance counselors, a librarian and a registrar. The formal education program is a five-year structured and graded program with the same standards as the La Salle Day School. Meanwhile, the non-formal education program is a ten-month program offering 21 courses. The ANHS requires applicants to be over 18 years old, of meager income and an elementary graduate.

"Those who dropped out of school before they graduated from elementary may take the Department of Education’s Philippine Educational Placement Test (pept). If they pass, they can be declared as elementary graduates. We really don’t want to make it hard for the out of school youth to go back to school through ANHS. In fact, we only charge them a token fee of P200 a year. That’s so they feel that they’ve paid for their education in some way," adds Tere. "What about text books? We have more than enough copies in the library for them to borrow and take home. There’s no real need to buy their own books."

Since 1978, the Night School has turned out over 1,000 graduates. Last March, there were 54 graduates from the formal and 335 from the non-formal program. Some of the ANHS alumni have continued their studies, pursuing college as well as graduate degrees. Most now hold better jobs; Tatay Nick, the oldest alumnus, works at the La Salle library.

It is not only the students who have inspiring stories. Many of the teachers at the ANHS have dedicated themselves to making a difference. STARweek spoke to four of these teachers who prove that teaching is still an honorable profession.

"I am a teacher by profession," Teresita "Bobet" Burgos-Gutierrez begins to explain why she was destined to teach at the ANHS. "I used to teach basic English for foreigners at the International School. For a while, I was a speech instructor at Speech Power."

All that changed when Bobet married Dr. Joel Gutierrez, a La Salle alumnus. She decided to give up her career to concentrate on her "domestic" responsibilities which included raising three boys. "When my eldest son was a high school sophomore, I became active in the PTA. By then, my youngest was already in Kinder 1. I felt my kids didn’t need me as much and I had time to do other things. So when I heard about the Adult Night High School–how it benefitted the poor– I decided to volunteer my time as a teacher. This is now my ninth year. In the beginning, I was handling the Personality Development course. Eventually, we polished it by adding Public Relations and Office Management. We’ve even honed it further by including oral communication skills. Humbly, I should point out that this is one of the most popular ANHS courses. The surveys we’ve conducted over the years have shown that my students are the ones who easily land jobs when they graduate. To me, that is the real measure of my achievement as a teacher," she insists.

A grade school and high school alumnus of La Salle Greenhills, Gilbert Yang went on to take BS Biology at UP Diliman where he also minored in European Languages and Education. He studied medicine at uerm where he is currently a consultant staff and professor. He had his dermatology training at the up-pgh. Later, he sub specialized in venereology or hiv and sexually transmitted infections at the University of Liverpool, one of only two such dermatologists in the country.

"The ANHS started when I was in Grade 5. I used to see the ANHS students on campus. I was in third year high school when I decided to volunteer my services. You see, I wanted to be both a teacher and a doctor. Of course, it was faster to be a teacher. So that’s what I did first," he says.

His determination meant taking 18 units of education as electives while completing his course in Biology. Thanks to semesters of over loads as well as summer classes, Gilbert was eligible to take the teacher’s accreditation exam in 1986. He began teaching at ANHS when he was a college junior. Due to the shortage of volunteer instructors, Gilbert handled various classes in social science, math and English.

"In my case, I felt that med school was making me insane while night school kept me sane. Med school is too cognitive. You mainly use the left side of your brain. I also needed to use the right side of my brain. That’s where teaching came in. I consider teaching an art, because making students learn gives me a feeling of achievement that’s similar to an artist who creates a painting out of nothing. Teachers here make something out of these students. These students are from the grass roots of society. Once they’ve completed their education, they’re able to land better jobs. Seeing such changes in people’s lives is something money cannot buy," Gilbert stresses.

His dedication to his apostolic work was tested during his medical internship. He got by with very little sleep, spending four of the 12 hours of his free time at La Salle after backbreaking 36-hour shifts in the hospital. How he managed to show up at Night School (bartering his duty days with co-interns) and still become a licensed dermatologist is one for the books. Instead of collapsing from exhaustion, the soft-spoken Gilbert says teaching energized him.

On top of his various activities as a doctor and as a teacher, Gilbert is a part time single parent to a five-year-old daughter, since his wife Cathy works four days a week at the Japan-based Bloomberg news agency. Has he ever thought of quitting from ANHS? "I will only stop teaching at ANHS when I retire. I don’t think of this as a burden," he explains.

In the late 1970s, Oddie Lacsama was one of the Day School faculty members who volunteered their services to the Night School. "We were around eight volunteers in the beginning. It was tough. We didn’t even have a faculty room. Every night, we had to clean up after ourselves because we were only squatters. I was teaching all sorts of subjects such as History, Social Studies, Filipino and English. And to think I still had my teaching load at the Day School," he says.

His 14-year tenure with La Salle was cut short after he completed his master’s degree. Oddie moved to De La Salle University where he taught literature. He stayed there for six years after which he was hired by another university.

His return to the ANHS was brought about by a simple phone call. He called Tere to ask if she knew of a Filipino teacher he could hire. She agreed to help him only if he would again volunteer some of his time at the Night School.

"I was really hopeful that one day I would resume teaching here. It was just that I needed to adjust to a new school at which I am now the head of the Filipino department. You could say I just took a short break and now I’m back," he laughs, explaining his three-year absence.

"In terms of satisfaction, I’m more fulfilled as a teacher here because you can see that the students are really hungry for knowledge. They listen intently and are more diligent in doing the work assigned to them. There is that desire to discover new things.

"During one of our career days, we found out that six to eight of our graduates from one batch already have their college diplomas. I’m happy to say that I was part of their success. That’s priceless. Actually, we feel fulfilled on a daily basis because our students are so appreciative of the work we do. They express their thanks all the time. In terms of teaching satisfaction, this is it for me. This is my benchmark."

Though he is considered a senior teacher of the La Salle High School, Nonoy Raymundo is one of the newest members of the ANHS faculty. He made his big move from the Day to the Night School in 1999.

"I had my eye on the Night school for some years now. But I only joined the faculty recently because I saw the need to do so. You see, before I retire, I want to give my services to such a cause," he explains.

Throughout his long teaching career, Nonoy admits that this change has been drastic but welcome. "The Night School students are poor, older, more experienced in life and some of them have been away from school for, would you believe, 20 years. As a teacher, I really feel that I’m helping those who sincerely want to learn. That’s a very big motivation for us teachers. In the beginning, I was teaching Math in Filipino because, as you may guess, our students don’t speak English well. But we felt that there’s a need to upgrade their language skills. So then I began mixing Filipino with English. This year, I’m using more English than Filipino. And the students like it. They see the need to hone their English while learning Math.

"I’ve never done this before so I use many different ways to get the message across. If this thing fails, I try something else. But, once you see them smile as if they finally understand what you’re saying, somehow it makes it all worthwhile. I’m slightly surprised at how well some of our students do in Math. But I already had a suspicion that they had the potential but were deterred from developing skills because they did not have an opportunity to study. I can confidently say that some of my students in the Night School can compete with the Day School students."

Chided for his partiality to his new set of students, Nonoy admits to his biases. However, he does so with the suave of a real gentleman. "It’s like what Brutus said in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar: ‘It’s not that I love Caesar less; But I love Rome more.’ The same goes for the Day and Night schools. It’s not that I don’t love the Day students, but I love the Night students more."

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For information on how you can help the ANHS Foundation continue its mission to educate the poor, please send inquiries to [email protected]