MikeLigalig.com

Two teachers are better than one!
By RACHEL C. BARAWID
October 1, 2009

They are looked up to as geniuses for developing a model school that is revolutionizing high school education in the country.

Others, however, regard them as freaks largely due to the subculture they have imbibed in their students.

Yet husband and wife, and theoretical physicists Dr. Christopher Caseñas Bernido and Dr. Ma. Victoria Carpio-Bernido do not even see themselves as either. They are simple professionals who are just doing their job, making a difference in the lives of their students, and certainly in the country’s educational system.

“Iba na kasi ‘yung culture of the school, the subculture is the love of learning that our students have developed.

Whereas other young people in the provinces would look forward to join fiestas and street dances, our students have changed and would rather study than be absent from class and join fiestas. Academics is a priority,” shares Marivic, principal of the Central Visayan Institute-Foundation
(CVI-F), a small secondary private school in Jagna, Bohol.

The Bernidos is the first couple to ever be awarded as one of this year’s Many Faces of a Teacher honorees by the Diwa Learning Systems and Bato Balani Foundation, Inc. This is not the first time, though, that they shared an award. Early this year, they were bestowed the 3rd Gawad Haydee Yorac by Meralco and the University of the Philippines in honor of the late chairman of the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG).

FROM AMERICA TO MANILA TO BOHOL

As individuals, both enjoyed fruitful careers before they left for Bohol to restore what was then an ailing school in danger of closure.

Although Chris is five years older than Marivic, the two would later end up sharing the same interests, ambitions and of course, a life together.

Both studied theoretical physics at UP Diliman, took up their PhDs at the State University of New York, Albany, and held teaching posts in top universities such as UP while also gaining prominence in their field both here and abroad.

Aside from doing research and publishing their works in international journals, both also contributed greatly to the development of the National Institute of Physics in UP where Chris served as director.

But in 1999, Chris’ 77-year-old mother asked him to help recover what was left of the family business, a private high school built by his grandfather. Located in the seaside municipality of Jagna, the CVI-F was then on the verge of closure because of its decaying infrastructure, the exodus of teachers, and the low morale of the school community.

Chris, CVI-F’s director, says enrolment dropped from 1,000 to 330 because they were losing good teachers transferring to public schools for bigger salaries. Many private schools, including those run by religious orders, also closed in the 1990s.

UNCONVENTIONAL AND DIFFERENT

Without time to look back, the couple readily packed their bags to relocate to Bohol and took over the management of the school.

The first three years were a challenge for the Bernidos who were adjusting to the transition from a career in the college and graduate school to high school. Chris says it took them a lot of time, energy and effort before they realized that the traditional teaching method would not work for this particular school.

In 2002, they introduced the Dynamic Learning Program, a breakthrough in high school education. Its Parallel Learning Groups component required three sections in all levels to take one subject – simultaneously – with one teacher per level. But how could one teacher teach three sections all at the same time? You may ask.

“It’s simple, a mixture or synthesis of different things. It’s just having the same ingredients and mixing them up to answer or address the problems and needs of the school. The teacher will have a reduced lecture time of only 20 minutes or 30 percent of the time. The rest of the 40 minute (70 percent) class period is then devoted to the students’ study time where they are left to do activities independently.

A facilitator (usually a History or English teacher) takes over during this period only for classroom management and definitely does not answer content questions,” explains Marivic.

The school requires that Science and Math be the first two periods in the morning and Languages in the afternoon.

“This method is simply about biorhythm. The more difficult subjects are placed in the morning where the minds of the students are most active. Obviously, a big difference from the traditional method where students already exhausted from a long day would still have to go through a Math class as their last subject for the day,’’ Chris explains.

NO HOMEWORK

Wednesdays are PE days when students have absolutely no homework! Everything is done in school including projects.

Chris explains that the no-homework policy is due to both superficial and profound reasons.

“We all know that it is usually the father, mother, brother or even the tutor who does the homework of a child most often. So it defeats the purpose and what’s worse is we’re even teaching the child to be dishonest. Also, people say that in the office, if you want workers to be more productive, they must not bring work home. This is the same with students who spend the whole day in school and still have to contend with loads of homework when they go home. But really, the more profound reason is in the learning. Neuroscientific studies show that if you want to have creative students, they must need lots of rest. The brain needs to rest,” stresses Chris.

This learning program, according to the Bernidos, proves to be efficient and fail-proof because it maximizes the time of the teachers and even addresses their shortage.

“We placed structures, a built-in system so that there will be no sliding back to the traditional and the system will still continue, even if the teachers are new, not highly trained or eventually leave the school after awhile. The school can still maintain the independent learning program,” he points out.

This, Chris adds, is even designed for large classes such as CVI-F with 40 to 50 students per class. “It’s really something like, think global but act local.”

Two years after they implemented the program, schools from Abra to Zamboanga have visited them and observed. CVI-F is also the home of the Research Center for Theoretical Physics, which the couple later on established.

EXCEPTIONAL STUDENTS

Chris happily notes that their progress translates in the steady increase of their students passing the UP College Admission Test (UPCAT) from four in 2003, to 12 this year.

Another performance indicator is in the results of the National Secondary Assessment Test where 19 percent of their seniors belong to the top 10 percent in the country.

In reading comprehension, one fourth or 25 percent of seniors belong to the top 10 percent in the country.

This, Marivic notes, is quite an accomplishment for their students who come from a poor community and are children of mostly tricycle drivers, farmers, and market vendors. “So we had to make an effort to ensure that the program will be able to lift them up to higher standards of living,” she adds.

This year, the couple is bent on going global by sponsoring their valedictorian’s US Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) just for benchmarking. They feel that they cannot rely on the UPCAT passers as a performance indicator because in the ranking of universities around the world, UPCAT is nowhere. Filipino students are also way, way down below in the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), an international survey of top performing schools.

In all these, the couple attributes the success of the program to their rich expertise and background in science as physicists, which they still practice up to now.

“Each enhances the other. If we were just focused on education, I don’t think we would have come up with this program. Here, we were using the methods of physics objectively. I think it enriched our perspective,” Marivic says.

But take away the program, she adds that the school has remained very simple, with rural facilities. Every summer, they make it a point to upgrade it though to adjust to the needs of the students and the times.

SILENT WORKERS

With such a feat, it is surprising to learn that this humble couple, if given a choice, would still prefer to work silently and even refuse to be feted.

“Awards can distract you and make you lose focus. Instead of focusing on the problem, you suddenly focus on yourself. If there’s plenty of attention on you and you can’t handle it, it can even destroy you. It’s quite similar to absolute power corrupts absolutely. You don’t even know it because it’s incremental. Mayabang ka na pala hindi mo pa alam. So it’s not good in a sense. Plus, there are many other teachers out there who are quietly doing their job and remain unknown. Pag nalaman mo ang storya nila, mahihiya ka na ikaw ang nabigyan ng award,” notes Chris.

Wife Marivic says with the Many Faces of a Teacher award, they accepted it primarily because of the noble cause of recognizing the teaching profession.

But still, the Bernidos feel that they have yet to accomplish many things — from the dropout cases in their school due to poverty, to their dream of overall improved performance of Filipino students in the TIMSS, and yes, even the much-needed improvement of the country’s educational system.

For them, their mission is all about “climbing a mountain, and another mountain, and still another. It just never stops.”


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