By: Mark Jason U. Dayao
They say that if one loves a person, distance can never be a hindrance for their love to bloom. The same can be said in education because if a learner loves to study the distance cannot stop him from learning, instead it will be like adding fuel to the fire to obtain the knowledge that he seeks.
Last October 2, 2020, three days before the official opening of classes, an outrigger boat, locally known as lampitaw, sailed from Aparri, Cagayan to the island of Camiguin, Calayan to deliver a one-month worth of modules for the more than 50 Senior High School learners of the Aparri School of Arts and Trades.
Calayan is situated 59.41 miles north of Aparri. Usually, an outrigger boat sails for five to six hours before it reaches the island. However, sometimes it may take longer than that if the weather condition is not good.
Fortunately, the weather condition during that day was fine so the sail went on smoothly.
THE GOOD SAMARITANS
Usually, whenever cargoes will be shipped from Aparri to Calayan, there will be a shipping fee depending on the size and weight of the cargo. But in the case of the modules, the boat captain refused to receive any amount and said that he will transport it for free.
According to the boat captain, this is his way of helping his kababayans and relatives who will be recipients of the said modules.
The same thing happened to the other set of modules sent to Camiguin which is a separate island under the municipality of Calayan.
THE TWO SIDES OF THE COIN
Early in the morning of October 4, Louise Mays Bucao, a grade 11 STEM learner from Calayan, received a message from her adviser that her modules can already be picked up at Mr. Orel’s residence.
“When I learned that my modules were already at my adviser’s residence, I was really excited and nervous at the same time. I immediately asked my mother to accompany me to get the modules. The journey towards the pick-up location of the modules took only a few minutes since we have a motorcycle.” Louise said.
When asked about her experience using the self-learning modules, Louise admitted that sometimes, she finds some lessons in the modules difficult to understand.
“Whenever there are things that I cannot understand in my lessons, what I often do is to ask the help of my parents and my siblings. Sometimes I also search the internet. Luckily, we have google meet in class so that our teachers can explain to us the things that we cannot understand in our lessons. I will study hard to be an engineer in the future.” She added.
Meanwhile, Jenely M. Simon, a grade 11 STEM student from Camiguin confessed that answering her module was not like eating a piece of cake specially she is alone most of the time since her parents need to work at the fields.
“In my case, I answer my modules independently because my parents are always out for work while my elder siblings already have their own families. To be honest, during the first week I cried hard and almost quitted because there some modules that I cannot answer. Fortunately, we have online class where our teachers teach us what we do not know.” Jenely said.
“The only problem is there are times that we have poor signal here in the island. What I do is to go out of the house to find signal. Sometimes I walk until I reach the main road because signal can be found there. There is one time that I got soaked in the rain in finding signal, but it is alright as long as that I can achieve my dream of becoming a nurse someday.” She added.
According to Mr. Orlino Orel Jr., their adviser, the most common feedback of learners from the islands is the internet connectivity in the area. Aside from that, there are instances when there are power interruptions in the island.
“As a local tourism hub in the north known for its white sand and pristine beaches, the municipality of Calayan has a 24/7 power supply. However, the Camiguin which is an island under the municipality only has power supply from 1:00pm to 5:00am.” Mr. Orlino Orel Jr., grade 11 STEM adviser said.
Despite this, learners are doing fine because they have their printed modules with them. Their teachers are also providing learning support to them via google meet, group chats and calls.
The journey of the learners may be likened to a lampitaw traversing the rough seas. But one thing is for sure, no matter how long the journey takes, it will never extinguish the learners’ desire to learn that is why despite the pandemic, the more than 50 learners from Camiguin and Calayan islands still enrolled to Aparri School of Arts and Trades.