I know someone. She was a high school student back when I heard this story. Just like what any other person can experience, she and her family went through some kind of financial difficulty. As such, she finished her 2nd year of secondary education, but was unable to comply with some of the school's monetary contributions.
Here in the Philippines, it is a common scenario that the government schools offer free education. In reality, it is not really free though. Upon enrollment, there are enrollment fees, examination fees, and miscellaneous fees (where "miscellaneous" was used so that there will be no definition of what these fees are). At one point, as a parent, it's not bad to shell out a little amount of money for entrusting your children to the school. To think of it, if quality education will be provided to the students, these fees could be incentives for good teachers, it is the only way the school can profit from anyway. Nevertheless, it's a government school, and government schools should have allotted budget for these children's education. Philippine Government should be paying for these kids' expenses.
If you are a Filipino or at least you know a Filipino middle class family with kids going to school, it is common for you to know or hear about "PTA", "GPTA", & voluntary contributions. Ironically, these so called "voluntary contributions", are not voluntary at all. Because if it is, no one gives a shit if you contribute or not. Take note: all these contributions are all monetary in form.
This is where the story starts. This female student consistently performs in class from the first to the third grading period. And before the school year ends it was announced that she was included in the top ten students of her class. As I have mentioned, her family encountered a financial difficulty that school year and she was not able to pay for the PTA "voluntary" contributions. And because of that financial issues, she and her family needed to transfer locations.
The day that their report card was announced to be released, her parents requested her Grandmother who still lives in the same city where they used to live, to get her report card on their behalf since they are far away. To her Grandma's surprise, her class Adviser would not release her report card unless the "voluntary" PTA contribution of P575.00 was paid in full.
I find it ridiculous. This young lady is studying in a Barangay High School, which is also a Government School of course. Studying in this school should be free! Taxes deducted from her parent's salary and all other employed Filipinos should be used to provide the school everything that it needs to operate. And the girl clearly played her part as a student. A performing student should be given proper recognition. That is my next argument.
When her Grandmother almost left, she saw the teacher walk towards the chalk board. She went to the part where the Top Ten students were listed. The girl's name is listed next to the number 10. Her Grandmother was not able to say anything when she saw the teacher erased her Grand daughter's name from the list. The old woman shook her head, and turned away.
I felt very sad. Time, effort and intelligence was invested by that young lady. She probably spent sleepless nights just to hit the 10th spot. and just because she cannot pay P575.00, she will never get the recognition for all her accomplishments. The mere reason why her parents chose to enroll her in a government school is to get away from tuition fees, etc. I also felt sorry that when I looked in the eyes of this girl, she doesn't seem to be interested in fighting for the 10th position and she doesn't seem to have that encouragement to do the same or even better for the next school year.
Just because of poverty, and not being able to comply to voluntary contributions, we just lost the heart of a hardworking student. If she will regain her desire to be on top, we would never know.
