IN OUR world, every human being needs air to survive, and education is as vital as air because education gives us the knowledge and skills to survive.
And education is important to people of all ages and it has no limit because it can help a lot in lessening the challenges of life.
It can be noted that governments around the world are spending money for a good education system where the people are encouraged to obtain scholarships to continue with their studies.
The necessity of education cannot be described in words. Thus, education is often called the backbone of a nation.
For 65-year-old Diosdado G. Evangelista, Jr. of Barangay West in Candoni, Negros Occidental, attaining a college degree can provide an enormous satisfaction for him, like increasing his self-confidence.
He says getting a college diploma at his age is worth the effort and time. Perhaps, it can open up new career opportunities, at the same time, keep his mind young.
For being a farmer since his youth, Evangelista has his own reasons for going back to school – to gain self-satisfaction by earning his own college diploma.
“Since I was already exposed to the different challenges of farming and have my own farmland to till, it is now the proper time for me to attain my ultimate dream – to have my own college diploma,” Evangelista said in vernacular.
After completing a vocational course earlier, he tried to practice being a mechanic but due to lack of tools, Evangelista just went back to their farm and continue farming.
At the age of 65, Evangelista is presently enrolled as the oldest student at the Candoni Campus of the Central Philippines State University (CPSU) taking up a course leading to a Bachelor’s Degree in Education.
However, his main objective is to earn a Crops Science Degree in Agriculture but the Candoni Campus has not been allowed yet to offer course, at least for now.
Unlike the other nine campuses of the CPSU, the campus at the municipality of Candoni has a very limited space to be able to offer agriculture courses.
But CPSU President Dr. Aladino C. Moraca emphasized that since agri-related courses are not yet available at the Candoni Campus, they are now conducting community services wherein the residents, mostly poor farmers, are engaged in performing tasks related to agriculture because the remote municipality is a farming community.
When asked as to why there are lots of enrolees who are pregnant, married, and even elders at the Candoni Campus, Moraca said that due to the municipality’s very remote location, majority of the residents did not have the means and opportunity to have a formal education in the urban areas.
Seeing the problem, the CPSU designed a program to put up a campus in Candoni to provide education for the marginalized residents.
“This is bringing education to the doorsteps of the poor families,” Moraca emphasized, adding that the CPSU is now offering free college education to the deserving students under Republic Act 10931. (jaypeeyap@ymail.com/PN)
