MANILA, Philippines – Last May 14, a family wanted to take a breather from the chaotic national exercise otherwise known as the elections. But surprisingly, their preschooler would hear none of it.

“The child didn't want to go to Subic because it was election day; he wanted to vote,” says Ani Almario with a laugh, of one of her toddler students in Raya School, a progressive pre-school she founded with CP David, Basil Wuson and Melvin Rillo.

As much as the school molds patriotic-minded pupils, David clarifies that they're not exactly shaping pre-schoolers to become another Satur Ocampo, the party list representative of Bayan Muna who has been detained several times for his politics.

“Nationalism is such a big word,” notes David. “But we're not developing activist kids. When you break down nationalism, it boils down to knowing that you're part of a bigger family, community and nation. It's having that responsibility to be a good citizen.”

Since opening Raya in 2005, these youthful educators have been instilling in unsullied Filipino minds the importance of loving one's own country.
It's a thrust that goes beyond lip service, contend its founders. As Almario and David point out, they've been implementing tangible changes from the typical play-oriented pre-school curriculum.

“It's possible to inject cultural literacy in play,” says Almario. “We try to expose the pre-schoolers to Filipino culture as much as we can. So if we're learning to count, we count mangoes instead of apples.” But the 29-year-old hastens to add that Raya has nothing against Humpty Dumpty and Jack and Jill. “We do nursery rhymes like 'Jack be Nimble,' but we also have Pinoy songs like 'Pen Pen de Sarapen' and 'Manang Biday,'” she adds.

The teachers also make sure that learning becomes a fun exercise, one of the hallmarks of Raya's daring new approach to Philippine education. “There is a perception that we're too serious,” notes David. “But our curriculum is still play-oriented. All the lessons are fun.”

Almario cites how an ostensibly heavy concept like democracy can be introduced to a three-year-old. “The pre-schoolers are asked to vote for a leader who's going to collect the pencils. These are simple things, but if you expose them to the practice, they learn that majority wins and there should be no cheating.”

Immersion in things Pinoy is part of the learning process at the cozy school tucked in Scout Limbaga, Quezon City. From the salakot (woven rattan hat) hanging on the wall to the colorful maskaras to the section names (Tutubi, Adlao, Bulan, Bathala), Raya pupils are exposed daily to Filipino culture and heritage. The school's name itself derives from the old Malay word for “rajah” or “nobility.”

Instilling pride in being Filipino is among the first lessons learned at Raya, says Almario. “We start classes with circle time when we sing the national anthem. Kids as young as three get their very first lesson on the Philippine flag even before they learn their ABCs. They connect the colors and shapes. So it's not that strange or radical.”

Appreciation for anything Pinoy also extends beyond the classroom, says David.

“The kids go out at least once a month,” he adds. The field trips have exposed the children to rice fields and carabaos, as well as to local artists in the case of a school visit to Angono, says Almario.

Role modeling has also been taken care of, she adds, as Raya students get to meet model citizens, from a doctor to a dancer to a sapatero (shoe-maker). “We try to bring Filipinos of different trades to school so they'd know that we're good at a lot of things, like a Filipino scientist, another who's good at indigenous music, and so on.”

To strengthen the children's sense of national identity, Julia Abad, a political science professor at Ateneo and a Fulbright alumna of Harvard University, will come in as a special teacher for the Citizenship and Identity Class. The 27-year-old Abad points out that the passive mindset of many high school and college students stems from their poor foundation on self and country.

She illustrates: “I teach basic political science, college-level. When I start the class, I give them a diagnostic test with questions like what does the Senate do? Some first year students don't even know. And it's not something you can just drill in their heads for a semester; it comes from a deeper problem of not caring to know about these things early on in school.”

David, an environmental science and geology professor at the University of the Philippines, also cites the lack of emphasis on science in regular schools. “Formal science in DepEd only starts in Grade 3. Here we start in kindergarten, when the kids are four,” he adds. “It's about time that Filipinos enjoy learning science. Kids get bored with memorizing. It shouldn't be taught that way, there should be relevance.”

Almario points to “Johnny,” a life-size mock-up skeleton hanging on one classroom wall. It's a project that the pre-schoolers constructed out of tissue rolls and recycled paper after a lesson on skeleton parts and a visit to an X-ray technician.

Raya gives equal importance to reading. “We have story time,” says Almario. “Every week the kids tackle two stories, one in Filipino and one in English. Those stories are the springboard for their languages,” says this teacher who also works for Adarna House, the pioneering children's book publisher that her father, National Artist for Literature Virgilio Almario, started in 1980.

But the school founders themselves admit to learning a lot from running Raya these past two years. “There have been a lot of changes” says Almario. “We've been tweaking the curriculum to see what works better with the kids and to take out those that are less effective. Every year, we make sure to strengthen the benchmark of the school, our emphasis on reading, science and sense of country.”

Although none of them were products of progressive pre-schools, they all look back to their growing up years in “households obsessed with current events and politics,” says Abad. The daughter of former Batanes representative Florencio “Butch” Abad adds: “It's like a family business, except that our interests are not income-generating. It's something you grow up absorbing until you want others to develop that same position.”

Notes Almario: “I think that's what is common among the three of us. We all come from fanatical households. Our parents are very patriotic and early on, it was normal for us to imbibe the thinking that we need to become good Filipinos, to grow up serving the country.”

But idealism comes at a price, admits the 36-year-old David. “The school as business, that's where we're weak,” confesses this son of sociologist and multi-awarded columnist Randy David. “We're not business savvy. It's hard to make a business out of the education of kids.”

Without intending to, David has probably summed up what ails the entire school system. Fortunately, having identified the ailment, David, Abad and Almario just might have found the cure as well.

10 basic things that pre-schoolers learn at Raya School

1. The Philippine flag, what it symbolizes and why we should respect it.

2. Filipino role models and how Pinoys come in all shapes, sizes and trades.

3. Using “po” and “opo” as signs of respect.

4. Speaking Filipino.

5. Local literature: nursery rhymes, songs, stories and poetry in the vernacular.

6. The national symbols that represent our country and why we should be proud of them.

7. Local holidays, especially Independence Day and Christmas, and how Filipinos celebrate them.

8. Filipino values like respect for the elderly.

9. Plants and animals native to the Philippines and why we should protect them.

10. Elements of Pinoy culture in the community that make us distinctly Filipino, like the jeepney, the panadero, the barangay captain, and so on.

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