The great mascot of Filipino futility is Juan Tamad. He symbolizes the nature of a senseless and useless, perhaps lazy person. Instead of picking the fruit, he just waited for the fruit to fall down the tree: this is a common representation. Applying the concept to education, some students become dormant. In the long end, a person who cannot find a job progresses in his or her life and ends with a hungry stomach.
The United States Sustainable Development Goal is that no person shall have a hungry stomach. The concept is applied in education in various contexts such as agriculture, cookery, and other food preparation-related activities. For instance, the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) managed courses that uplift the lives of Filipinos through the practice of several skills necessary to find a job; or practice the courses on their own like Agriculture Crops Production and other program offered to improve one’s life.
Among elementary and secondary schools, the integration of agriculture, poultry, and even animal husbandry is also included in the programs offered. Technology and Livelihood Education (TLE) is a diversity of practical skills necessary for a person to learn. Most of the activities and lessons are actual and theories ended up with practical and actual applications. For example, one of the lessons in the subject is cooking. The teacher does not just teach the basic cooking techniques and preparations but allows the students to cook. These skills, though involve time to be mastered, are started in the very kitchen of every TLE laboratory.
In conditioning, the mind of the Filipinos, an excellent advertisement of one of the richest businessmen and politicians in the country noted that “Sipag” (Industry) and “Tiyaga” (Patience/Endurance) are the best qualities of Filipino workers. If teachers can integrate these concepts in their lessons, and diminish the face of Juan Tamad as a mockery of their culture, that reflects a more positive tone.
In reducing the idea, as UN SDG puts it “Zero Hunger,” the world of education has a big impact on it. A positive mindset, future career, and professional outcome begin at school. Practical skills introduced not only those necessary skills to survive but also one of the most important missions of a school – the transfer of knowledge that will impact one’s decision which will either fill or empty a stomach.
By: MRS. ARMIE E. LUCENA | TEACHER III | BATAAN NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL | BALANGA CITY, BATAAN
