Hats off!

We were all apprehensive that anytime the COVID-19 alert level shifts to higher gear, we will be compelled to go back to the confines of the virtual world. But in the past week, our public schools came roaring back with end-of-school year rites for the classes of batch 2022. It was quite overwhelming, and absolute joy. Learners, faculty, staff and families seemed to be one endless smile in their beaming eyes. Learners exhaled beneath their garb of togas and sablays and teachers stood proud in their Filipinianas. A ritual that had once seemed almost routine was suddenly extraordinary.

The face-to-face rites this year enabled us to celebrate everybody’s hard work. The current school year produced the first batch of graduates and completers who successfully hurdled the hybrid education on distance learning and limited face-to-face mechanisms. It was filled with trials which shaped them to be innovative, creative and resilient individuals. They are a new wave of graduates and completers who bore witness to our collective struggle as a nation and the ones who experienced the various challenges brought by the transition. We could think of them as the results of arduous deliberation and preparation. They were designed to bend. They had been trained to learn. They were also taught how to adjust.

This has consonance to the message of Secretary Briones. “To the Class of 2022, resilience is in your blood. You have survived one of the toughest times in human history, yet still embraced education as your primary tool to success. I believe that with your passion and purpose, you can reach your dreams and change the world.”

We have high hopes as we create a country of capable global citizens and future leaders.