#BeyondFourWalls

MANILA, Philippines - For teachers, 24 hours is never enough to do everything that they have to. Working eight hours a day to educate young minds, another few more hours to do their lesson plans, visual aids, and educational materials after class, some still having to do remedial classes for slow learners; others handle academic organization to enrich more minds through extra and co-curricular activities.

Meanwhile, teachers are also more likely to be parents who just as well need to take care of their own families and provide for their needs. Despite these rigors, they do much in rendering selfless service inside and outside the confines of the classrooms.

These are our teachers.

In support of National Teachers’ Month, The Philippine STAR’s social media team launched hashtag #BeyondFourWalls, a campaign that aims to showcase how our public school teachers extend selfless service beyond classroom borders.

Ronaldo Reyes

For Ronaldo Reyes, a chemistry teacher at Tabaco National High School in Albay, science education is not limited to the campus. It extends beyond lectures and laboratory work to encompass the lives and livelihood of the school’s surrounding community. Thus, he initiated Chem-Connect in the Community, a project that promotes scientific literacy by expanding chemistry concepts as a source of livelihood.

Amcy Esteban

As a teacher, what do you believe in? Amcy Esteban, a special education teacher in Legarda Elementary School, says: “As an educator, I believe that “I am what I teach.” 

It is important for me to reflect on the two most important questions to gain happiness and satisfaction to achieve my full potential as a teacher: “What should I teach?” and “How should I teach my pupils? In order to know what one needs to teach, it is fundamental to know where the learners are. There is an immense need for me to discover where they are, to be on the right track.”

Ernani Fernandez, Jr.

As an Information and Communications Technology teacher in Leyte, Ernani Fernandez faced a major difficulty: 60 students shared four  computers, but his passion did not wane. When super typhoon Yolanda struck the province, however, all of the school’s ICT materials were washed out. Undaunted, he initiated a donation drive that eventually rebuilt the school’s ICT resources.

Education, according to Fernandez, “is not just about teaching and learning. It is not just what I taught to my students and what my students acquired from me.  It is also how you touch their lives and develop them as positive individuals with a strong faith in God.”

Rejie Palmos

For West Visayas State University teacher Rejie Palmos, “The world is a classroom. To be a teacher, we need to spread our service beyond the four walls of a classroom or what we may call the borderless classroom.”

He also believes that “our deeds speak for ourselves. Teach very well and become living witnesses of God’s compassion. By these, the world will not only know but will lovingly follow our footsteps!”

Myrna Libutaque

A teacher who also subscribes to the belief that education goes beyond the four walls of the classroom is Myrna Libutaque, a mathematics teacher in Philippine Science High School-Western Visayas (PSHSWV) campus.

She participated in a program called “Tulong Dunong,” an outreach activity of the school that  seeks to help less privileged aspirants (from public schools) to become DOST scholars in the secondary and tertiary levels.

Ronaldo Reyes, Amcy Esteban, Ernani Fernandez Jr.,Rejie Palmos, and Myrna Libutaque are among the recipients of Metrobank Foundation’s Search for Outstanding Teachers 2015.