By: Jhoana A. Suaze, Head Teacher I
Calumpang National High School
SDO Laguna
“Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.” – Helen Keller
This is a beautiful and meaningful quote by Ms. Keller that holds significance in our lives as educators. Educating a child is not a one-man job. We need each other to be able to achieve our goals. We know that we need to become united to pursue goals for our learners.
Relative to this, in our country, the spirit of Bayanihan still lives on until now and is being practiced in our schools every year through what we call Brigada Eskwela. To help without expecting anything in return and to achieve a certain goal is what we want everyone to realize – that in the delivery of education, everyone plays a part in educating our children.
During the good old days, Bayanihan is when people help each other move their houses which were made of light materials – and move them to another place. Now, if we are going to put it in the modern context, the house is our educational institution, and the people who are lifting it are our stakeholders. In the Department of Education (DepEd) we have what we call shared leadership and governance.
To be able to gather the support of each stakeholder plays an important role in our conduct of Brigada Eskwela. Their involvement in education plays an important part in supporting our schools through cash and in-kind donations which would benefit our teachers and students in the delivery and acquiring quality education. With their involvement, we will be able to reach our goals through collaboration and effort.
Brigada Eskwela encourages all stakeholders – teachers, parents, learners, local government units, and non-government organizations to volunteer and help in creating a safe, conducive, and effective learning environment for our students. Through the active participation and collaboration of the school and its stakeholders, we can ensure that our school will always be ready for school openings and our students.
The spirit of volunteerism is indeed alive during BE as these people do not expect anything in return. From shelling out their own money – buying and donating bond papers, inks, cleaning materials, televisions, printers, and sometimes even laptops or desktops; up to spending their precious time doing labor in school – cleaning and preparing the classroom and school grounds — this just shows their overwhelming support to pursue education for our students.
Realizing the importance of shared governance, partnership, and vision for our learners’ future, the school expresses its unending gratitude by acknowledging the role of everyone – from ordinary people to high-ranking people in our society – in pursuing a common goal. Through this collaborative effort, we can strengthen each other and give hope to one another. There may be a lack in budget most of the time for our learners’ and teachers’ needs, but there will never be a lack of hearts that are willing to help and support our educational institutions.
A successful collaboration between all stakeholders and schools every year Brigada Eskwela is held just shows that we are strong and deeply devoted to attaining the Mission and Vision of our department. Brigada Eskwela is deeply rooted in our culture as Filipinos – which is the spirit of Bayanihan. Let us continue to uplift each other – specifically our schools along with their teachers and learners – through supporting the delivery of quality education which would benefit our country in the long run with highly equipped and responsible citizens of the Philippines.
