Journalism’s loss is education’s gain Linda Bolido Philippine Daily Inquirer
June 28, 2009
WHILE many people half her age cannot wait to retire, are bored with their jobs or still do not know what they really want to do, Fe Tria-Fernandez wishes she can be back in the classroom teaching.
But she does not want to master anymore the new and more complicated grading system. Nor does she have the patience for all the paperwork -- the reports, the quizzes and tests, the report cards.
So Fernandez, who will be 80 in a few months, has to be content to be in school though not in a classroom.
She is currently principal of the aptly named Basic Formation Department, overseeing classes from preschool to high school, and administrator of the private Palawan Polytechnic College, Inc. in Puerto Princesa, Palawan.
It must be genetics. Both of Fernandez’s parents were teachers.
Orphaned early, Fernandez had harbored dreams of becoming a journalist. But the aunt who raised her, a nun, suggested she take up education instead.
She finished the two-year Elementary Teaching Course at the Virgin of Carmel University in Batangas as a working student, teaching kindergarten and preschool.
At 20, with her newly minted teaching certificate, she returned to her native Cuyo and was assigned to teach at an extension class in a remote barrio of a public elementary school.
It was such an enjoyable experience she was hooked. Though she taught sixth grade, many of her students were older than her and treated her with utmost respect and affection.
Fish for Ma’am
The students were dropouts, people who had to stop schooling because of the need to earn a living.
In their mid-20s and even 30s, they would ask Ma’am to go home early on Friday so they could go fishing.
On Mondays, they would show their gratitude by bringing her freshly caught or dried fish.
Eventually she would move to Cuyo Central School, teaching Grades III to VI classes.
Fernandez, who learned to play the piano early on from her mother, would later pursue a Bachelor of Elementary Education Degree, major in music, followed by a master’s degree in Administration.
Fernandez’s ties to education were strengthened when she married another teacher. Now three of her six children are also teachers.
Even when she was holding supervisory positions, her most enjoyable moments where those spent in classrooms watching teachers go through their paces before their students.
“Teaching is still a noble profession,” Fernandez explained her lifelong commitment to education. “There will be no engineers, no doctors, no lawyers without teachers.
”For Fernandez, there is no better motivation for a teacher than to learn that former students have done well."
She beamed with pride as she recalled how Palawan’s current governor, Joel Reyes, her student in fifth grade, would acknowledge her -- “I see my former teacher” -- at public functions.
Another former student, she said, was now a bishop based in the United States. Several had become Department of Education supervisors.
“As teachers, we are happy to see our students succeed,” she said.
Fernandez said she would tell teachers who could not wait to retire, “You are foolish.”
Better off today
Though she admitted teaching was more difficult now because students were exposed to many distractions (some of their students at PPCI sneak out during class hours by climbing the fence so they can play video games in nearby Internet cafés), she also believed teachers were better off now than before.
“They have more benefits. Salaries are raised more often now than before,” she said.
Fernandez said requiring prospective teachers to pass the Licensure Examination for Teachers was also a big boost not only in giving increased stature to the profession, but also in improving the quality of tutors.
Those who passed the LET, she said, were “mas magaling kaysa hindi pasado” [better than those who did not qualify].She also believed that teachers who showed they enjoyed their jobs would find it easier to handle their classes.
“I liked my children. They were not problem children. I loved and respected them,” she said.
Now Fernandez is happy to learn that a granddaughter wants to be a teacher. It was a pleasant surprise considering that today’s young people seem to go for glamorous jobs or courses that would make it easier to go abroad.
Hardly believing what she was hearing, she had to ask: “Totoo ba? Serious ka ba? [Is it true? Are you serious?]”
When her apo firmly said yes, Fernandez eagerly suggested the Philippine Normal University, which she still considered the best teacher training institution in the country.
The would-be journalist had found time to combine her love for music and writing.
She has compiled Cuyonon folk songs, a translation of basic English phrases in Cuyonon, the main language in Palawan, and several other books.
