The Season-Long Pilot School-Children Field Schools

SAN CARLOS CITY, Pangasinan - The season-long conduct of the School-Children Field Schools (SCFS) at five pilot school-sites in the San Carlos City Schools Division was conducted from June 5 to October 21, 2009.  A total of 191 school-children and 33 school teachers were identified to participate and graduate in the pilot program.

The five schools were:
a.    District I – Pagal Elementary School, Brgy. Pagal
b.    District II – Tarece Integrated School, Brgy. Tarece
c.    District III – Talang Central School , Brgy. Talang
d.    District IV – Turac Elementary School , Brgy Turac
e.    District V – SEP National Agricultural School (High School)
 
The SCFS participants from each site were composed of a class of Grade 5 pupils for the elementary level, and third year students for the high school level. Following a normal Farmer Field School (FFS) protocol, the SCFS participants went through the season-long experience. They participated in all the activities that accompanied the planting and production of vegetable crops – from bed preparation to harvesting; in several sites they were even able to include food preparation and processing of the harvested crops.  It is during the experience of caring for and cultivating their crops that the students were also able to learn the concepts of biodiversity, global warming, nutrition, integrated pest management and its impact on the immediate ecosystems and eventually to the environment as a whole.
 
Besides going through the actual production processes, they were also engaged and guided in completely discussing their shared experiences.  It is during these phases of the process that the facilitators were very much needed.  It is here where the misconceptions, the misunderstandings were put to right; and also where any additional information and concepts were discussed, curiosities satisfied.
 
Special thrills were encountered during the bed preparation, the planting of the seedlings, during the collection of pest specimen, the care of the plants.  The excitement felt by all participants when the crops begin to flower and bear fruit.  These moments wiped away all the hardships and difficulties encountered.  And then harvest time…that wonderful moment when the children and the facilitators started harvesting the fruits of their labor; cooking them and sharing them as a group.
 
The School-Children Field Schools culminated in a mass graduation ceremony held at SEPNAS (District V Pilot School).  During this day, the graduates invited their friends, parents, officials from the Local Government Units, the Departments of Education and Agriculture, and all the different participating agencies, to celebrate the occasion with them.  (Maricel D. Dacapias, Information Officer II)