Beyond the call of duty

MANILA, Philippines - A teacher’s responsibility continues even after the bell rings. This is particularly true for Mary Grace Juaban, principal of Tuburan Village Elementary School, who found herself teaching not only her students, but also the residents of Baon, San Isidro in Davao Oriental, where the school is located.

Juaban had no intention of working as a principal. However, a throat problem made her unable to continue teaching. This made Juaban consider how she can best serve the academic community, thinking that perhaps “it was time for me to handle a school.”

She chose to teach in a small school in San Isidro, because she could relate with the residents in the predominantly Muslim barangay, which was similar to the community in Cotabato where she grew up. 

“I was supposed to be assigned to a big school that is already established and comes with complete classrooms and a full staff of teachers. I suggested instead that I be assigned to the place where there are Muslims, since I came from a place with a lot of Muslims,” she says in Filipino.

Juaban got more than what she bargained for when she arrived in Tuburan. Even though the school was established in 1997, there were no school buildings to speak of. Classes were held at the evacuation center for Grades 1 and 2 and the local training center for Grades 3 and 4. Classes were held under the trees if either facility was needed for some other purpose. Even the principal was not spared: Juaban held office under a tree.

There were only two teachers when she arrived. Teachers were afraid of being assigned here because of the high crime rate, caused in part by the lack of electricity in Baon. As Juaban noted, a lot of those who went home late got mugged.

Negative perceptions toward Muslims, who were the majority of the population in the area, of some faculty members only heightened their fear of working in the community. Those who do serve here seek a transfer after one or two years. 

Children slept in class regularly, or skipped school altogether. As Mayor Edgar Flor Saulon shares, “As soon as the teacher turns her back, the children would run to the shore to help the fishermen pull in their nets, since they would get free fish. When they get back to their classes, they have no more clothes, because they’re all wet.”

Juaban later learned that students did this not to escape their classes, but because their families were extremely poor. In her house-to-house visits, she was shocked to find some children eating paper and plastic because they had nothing else to eat. She found herself reflecting, “It’s so hard. This is not even a remote area, so why is it so underdeveloped?”

Parents also opposed changes that Juaban wanted to make, even cutting the grass on campus. Some families believe that schooling was unnecessary. “They believe that madrasa (Muslim schooling that teaches the Quran to students) is better than English education,” Juaban says, explaining that they use the latter term to refer to regular schooling.

Despite these setbacks, Juaban refused to give up. “I asked myself why the school was not developing.” She came to the conclusion that the reason why there was conflict and misunderstanding between groups was because there was prejudice against marginalized sectors, such as Muslims. Being an educator, her response was to educate the people to resolve the conflict.

The first thing she did was to lobby for the construction of a school building. A congressman provided funds, but it was not enough. The arrival of Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan-Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services (Kalahi-CIDSS) helped resolve this problem.

Juaban spearheaded the construction of a two-classroom school building, going house-to-house to get the parents to support the project and presenting scenarios to the people who attended the Municipal Inter-Barangay Forum on the consequences of lack of education. Juaban also approached board members, the municipal mayor, and even  people in her own poblacion of Bato-Bato in order to get the resources to push through with the project.

This time, she did not work alone. Kalahi-CIDSS emphasizes the importance of participation and cooperation, and this is what the people exhibited. The land where the school was constructed was from the local government, which originally donated the land to the Department of Education (DepEd). The parents of the students helped in the construction of the school. Members of the Armed Forces, long seen as the enemy by many of the Muslims in the community due to their history of conflict, painted the building. Seeing the people work together to help construct the school made Juaban hope once again that change could happen.

Juaban knew that the construction of the school building was only the first step. Knowing that an attitude change of the community was needed in order to maximize the potential of the school, she focused on teaching values formation, not just to the students but to their families.

The first thing she set about doing was to help the parents realize the importance of traditional schooling. “I told them madrasa and English education should be equal.” To emphasize this point, she told them, “The only way to escape from poverty is through education.” Their experience in working together through Kalahi-CIDSS made the parents more receptive to her ideas, and they became more willing to send their children to school.

She also focused on improving the health of the residents of Tuburan. As a fishing community, the people had a diet rich in seafood, but not a lot of vegetables. Juaban offered a reward system for students whose homes have vegetable patches. The more enterprising families even sold some of the vegetables they planted, and this supplemented their income.

When she noticed that a lot of families were not particular about cleanliness, she offered another reward system if students picked up trash lying about. The children brought this habit home, resulting in the parents becoming more concerned about cleaning their homes and the surrounding area. 

She also trained the teachers on her staff to become more open. She told her fellow teachers, “This is our mission. We should not be scared.” She advocated equality. “I am fighting for minorities to resolve conflict. Everyone should be treated equally so there will be no tension.” She also encouraged Muslims to actively participate in community activities. As a result, there are now two young Muslim volunteer teachers working in the Tuburan Village Elementary School, inspired by Juaban. 

It might come as a surprise that the changes effected by Juaban took place in roughly two years, since she became principal of Tuburan Village Elementary School only in 2010.

But she takes everything in stride, saying, “I just address the needs as they crop up.” Even so, she is fully aware of the active role she plays in the community. “If I do not act, these people will still be affected by poverty,” she said.

The next item on her agenda is for the students in Tuburan Village Elementary School to excel academically. So far, she is doing a good job of it, if her school ranking first in the area in the National Achievement Test and second in an inter-division contest in 2011 are any indication.

Though she has developed hypertension and struggles with being apart from her children studying in Manila, Juaban intends to continue working. “Passion for work talaga.”