Mangyans being a native tribe in Mindoro is somehow getting the benefit of education just like the tagalog community in the province. Thank God indeed for this benefit so that native tribes can also have access to education that every Filipino children needs.
Ambang Mangyan School is also one of the Mangyan Schools in Oriental Mindoro, Puerto Galera. Here’s a photo of the teachers and students in the said school. These children of the tribe are not required to be in school uniform, because obviously they don’t have any amount to spend to be on a typical student image. These monoblock chairs that they are using and these art materials are from non government organizations and donations from different group of foreigners who are doing charity works in isolated areas like this.
Ambang Mangyan School is in a far place rural area wherein teachers are the one’s who need to travel for hours to reach their community. The word travel is not an easy word to say as we look at the photos below:
They are my co-teachers and also my friends when I was still teaching in Mindoro. They knew about me creating blogs so they sent me these photos as they also want to spread awareness to the community.
Teachers are travelling by means of hours of walking and crossing this challenging river. 45 minutes travel from the town and 2 hours walk to reach the place. It is just one river but they have to cross 7 parts of it to easily reach the school, it is not just a straight river that they can cross in one go, its direction goes on curves that seems like really an obstacle. They had to bring their things so that they can take a bath and change their clothes once they reach the school. Oriental Mindoro isn’t getting quick responses about class suspensions that’s why they have to decide if they will push through with classes or not when weather seems not to be good, students have to consider their own safety rather than wait for government announcement. Most of the teachers are staying in the school during weekdays and goes home every weekends, the usual stay in teachers are female, there are some men teachers who have their own families and have to go through this every single day.
This is definitely dangerous but the teacher’s passion to reach out to the Mangyan tribe is just so pure we really wanted the community to go along with education and modernization. I myself was once a teacher in a different Mangyan school had this so much compassion for this tribe, because I realized that if no one would sacrifice for them, no one among them will grow and start a decent life.
Every single time that I talk to the Mangyan students and the parents, I always emphasize on the need and importance of being educated, that their lives shouldn’t settle in having bananas and sweet potatoes everyday, that they should have a decent job for a decent meal, that they cannot always rely on jobs they are being asked to do by the tagalog community. I show them how the city looks like and how they should dream of living in the city and follow through the modernization that they can also enjoy.
We are not “just” teachers, we live for our students and we believe in education. We want to lift them up and give them a normal life.
I hope that through this, tagalog community will be aware of different tribe’s situation around the country. That we may appreciate life because we are blessed enough to be granted woth shelter food and technology, there are people who doesn’t have anything at all.
It’s not only the teachers who can do something about it, everyone can work on anything to be of help to the different native tribes of the Philippines.
photo credits to: Ma’am Shebert L. -one of the devoted teachers in Ambang Mangyan school
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