Turkey for bond paper, anyone?
All for the love of teaching and for the welfare of my learners amid this coronavirus pandemic
SAN JORGE, Samar — Sans frills and media coverage, a school teacher here has been going around, looking for people willing to accept his ducks and turkeys for bond paper.
For each live turkey, Jojines Baylon will accept a ream of bond paper that he can use for the reproduction of modules for his students.
Some accept one turkey in exchange for three reams.
“All for the love of teaching and for the welfare of my learners amid this coronavirus pandemic,” he said.
The 43-year-old Baylon is one of only three teachers of Alternative Learning System (ALS) here, a fourth-class municipality.
“In ALS, we teach all subjects depending on the needs of our learners, similar to multigrade teachers. But our focus is more on skills development since our learners are older than regular students,” he said.
Parallel system
ALS is a parallel learning system developed by the Department of Education as an option for those who cannot access formal education in school. It is composed Basic Literacy Program aimed at eradicating illiteracy among out-of-school youths and adults and Accreditation and Equivalency program where dropouts can complete elementary and high school education outside the formal system.
As an ALS teacher, Baylon is required to have at least 75 learners per year with no age limit. But unlike a regular school where students come from the village where the school is located, ALS students are spread out in different communities.
The three ALS teachers of San Jorge cover 42 barangays, many of them accessible by foot. A mapping conducted by ALS teachers last year found over 600 out-of-school youths in San Jorge, which is around four percent of the population. “Many of my students are already parents who just want to continue with their studies. Most are farmers who married early and want to have another chance to develop themselves for a better future,” Baylon said.
New normal
Like most teachers in regular school, ALS teachers were also caught off guard with the huge task under modular learning. It is more daunting for towns like San Jorge where online teaching is not an option due to the absence of wireless data in most villages, aside from the fact that very few can afford to buy gadgets. “The only option we have here is through the use of modules,” Baylon said.
For this year, he has six modules with around 60 pages each to be distributed to at least 75 learners.
Early on, Baylon tried to solicit from friends by posting appeals through social media asking for bond paper, ink and other learning tools. A few responded, but not enough to cover the students’ needs.