THE COST OF EDUCATION

I can say that I am a privileged individual knowing that I have finished my education and I have a career which sustains me and say my family. Indeed, earning a degree and an education is a very vital step for one to become a successful person in what ever field he or she may pursue. I can say that the privilege was mine when I got to go to a topnotch school in our province and educated.

But sad to say it seems that education nowadays aside from being a necessity has become an expensive commodity in the market. People pay for the best education there in the country today and there is no doubt that there is that big difference on how education is being offered in the suburbs and to the rural areas in our country. Most public schools in the country do not have enough funding, and most students who go to these aren't that privileged enough. And the Philippines is such a complex country wherein even the remotest place in the country, there are number of people living there. As our government responds to the needs of educating even the minorities, still the minorities do not have it all to prepare themselves to be educated. No matter how one student from some depressed areas in our country today are ecstatic about going back to school last June still some of them lacked even the simplest armor to prepare them for school.

Our office together with the Black Pencil Project responded to the call upon seeing this need. The Black Pencil Project aims to to share school supplies to the depressed areas in our country wherein these places cannot be easily reached by a daily transportation and families earn less than a dollar a day and may not be able to provide the basic needs for the education of their children.

The places were Sto. Domingo and Sta. Ines in Tanay, Rizal. Yes Rizal in Manila. A place that sometimes for me is quite near Metro Manila but then when we took the challenge of going to these barangays it seems like it took forever in reaching these barangays. A ride to Tanay proper and a jeepney ride which almost took and hour and a half passing farms, crooked roads and a number of rivers.

It was a relief when we reached the first site for the distribution of the school supplies, children were running towards the jeepney that took us to that place. It was indeed a joy to see that you will be sharing and will be doing something for the greater good of this children who nobody knows will become a greater good for our country in the next few years to come. We prepared games, and other activities for both barangays where we distributed the school supplies. Seeing the joy in each child receiving a bag and school supplies is priceless. Their excitement to start schooling is fueled by the school supplies that they received at the start of the school year. And also kudos to the principal and the teachers who took the challenge to teach in this remote parts of Rizal. Who took the risk, who thought of others before themselves. See the place is so remote that the transportation is just about thrice a week and two intervals per day. The jeepney can carry a load even on its top just to accommodate commuters.

After the event, I realized how priceless education is to these people. Here in the Metro, most if not all take for granted the education that they have and even take for granted the abundant school supplies, we take for granted the comforts that we have in getting educated like our school buses, our baons, etc. whereas in some parts of the same land where we are there are people who will even write on a banana leaf, who will walk not just a few kilometers but even more than what we can imagine, who will eat just camote to get them to school and get educated.

Indeed the cost education is priceless.

Thank you to the Black Pencil Project for this experience and until the next project! :)