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SALUNGGUHIT
School Opening Blues
By Jasper
Almirante/
Bulatlat
For 22 million elementary
and high school students on June 6, all roads lead to schools they
temporarily left last summer. For the coming school year, they are
expected to learn from their underpaid, overworked teachers. They have to
sift through pages of textbooks, outdated as they are and rare as they
come.
In the coming months,
however, students should make themselves accustomed to the decrepit
classrooms and consider themselves lucky to have antiquated facilities,
since other sections and neighboring schools have none at all. For those
who are able to get chairs, they sit in class wondering why this is the
situation and how long they can endure all this. Their attention veers
away from the teacher’s lesson, focusing on what the future holds for
them.
In the afternoon of June
6, they may hear that their teachers are going out of the classroom to
join protesters in Mendiola demanding a change in the country’s
educational system. From there, the students will realize that on June 6,
all roads may lead to schools, but progressive students and teachers are
treading a different path that leads to the seat of power.
Salungguhit literally means to
underline; figuratively, to
underscore or highlight.
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© 2004 Bulatlat
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