Extraordinary teachers

THERE are still many good people in the world. This is a statement. If mass media glorifies the existence of bad people, or those who don’t care if other human beings are suffering because of their misdeeds, or those who taunt human dignity and trample human rights with contempt, and continue to chronicle the triumph of evil in our midst, it is good to know that genuinely concerned Filipinos also abound, and they just do not “announce” their good deeds.

It won’t hurt, though, if one recognizes these people because then we would certainly want to make their number increase by telling the world there are these beautiful people who help us to achieve peace in every sense of the word.

I am referring to the young teachers of the Mindanao Interfaith Services Foundation Inc. (MISFI) Academy, who continue to serve the marginalized children of about 10 members of the ethno-linguistic Indigenous Peoples (IP) in Mindanao.

Majority of the about 80 teachers of MISFI are in their early 20s. Some of them have just graduated from college and already found themselves immersed and engaged in the needs of their pupils.

Why are these young people drawn to the job of teaching in the hinterlands, which are often so distant and difficult to reach?

These young teachers are not even receiving regular teacher’s pay, only allowances that a non-govern- ment organization like MISFI (which responded to the basic need of the lumad children for education) could afford to give.

Many of the teachers who accepted the challenge of MISFI found themselves engaged to the task when, upon starting to journey with the young lumads in their communities, they saw their dire situation. For instance, some of the children attend their community school classes without having breakfast.

The teachers likewise become enamored when the little children hungrily absorb basic knowledge they are being taught about and look up to them with the loving eyes of innocents who found a friend and an elder brother or sister in the midst of their poverty.

Thus, even if the teachers have, from time to time, been challenged by the distance and by the lack of cell phone “signal” that would have allowed them to communicate with their loved ones as they stay in the Lumad community for long periods of time to teach daily, they continue to render this most noble effort.

In a recent gathering wherein the MISFI teachers shared experiences, a portrayal of a most daunting experience they went through was done by a group from one of the lumad communities they are serving.

The short play related the teachers’ encounter with paramilitary groups that have been bedeviling their efforts and accusing them of being members of the New Peoples’ Army (NPA), and continuing to hound them.

Not a few teachers were able to relate to this experience, as a number of MISFI schools have been targeted by military smear campaign. some teachers were even threatened with actual harm with military contingents setting up their camps within the perimeters of the school campus and endangering the school community including the children.

It is easy to understand these teachers’ love for teaching and for the young IPs, but as to why the military is threatening their safety is something that the current administration of President Rodrigo Duterte must address.

The lumads are determined no matter what to pursue their children’s education with the help of non-government organizations like MISFI and many others. Therefore, the government must acknowledge these vital contributions.- from Sun.Star Davao