ILOILO – A woman full of hardship and dedication, who strives her best in order to achieve her goals in life – to educate the young ones.

This is how Ma’am Maria Sandra Tanalgo describes by her friends and co-teachers from Tubungan National High School where she started teaching for 10 years already.

Ma’am Tanalgo is a graduate of Bachelor of Secondary Education major in English at Colegio dela Purisima Concepcion, Roxas City.

She started her teaching profession as a volunteer and substitute teacher after her graduation in 1996. In fact, she taught seminarian students at St. Pius X Seminary in Roxas City for 11 years.

An opportunity knocks her door when she was hired as a permanent teacher of Tubungan National High School (TNHS) in 2008.

Known by her golden heart, she was designated as Guidance Designate and later chosen to become a focal of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) from the school year 2016 up to present.

At first, it is difficult for her to adjust her life in teaching especially in dealing students from all walks of life but later she found out that it is very challenging. For her, teaching is a noble profession. It needs more patience in dealing with students with different outlooks in life.

“In order to do your task easily you need to accept wholeheartedly whatever work assigned to you,” she said.
Ma’am Tanalgo always put her mind that teachers are the jack of all trades.

That’s why she has a positive outlook for the 4Ps which aims to send children in school and be healthy. For her, this is a big help for the deserving students who are not financially stable. She is also promoting the good benefits of the program to the beneficiaries as well as to the parents.

QUARTERLY ASSESSMENT

Highest records on absenteeism among 4Ps students are one of the top problems in the school. As an intervention, all students with a behavioral contract for the school year 2018-2019 were placed under the Absenteeism Reduction Program (ARP).

Ma’am Tanaldo with the help of the school committee initiated an intervention in order to help the students to minimize making absences without any valid reasons. The daily attendance is being monitored by all subject teachers by using the daily attendance monitoring tool. There is a quarterly assessment of their status together with their parents.

TEEN CENTER

The Iloilo Provincial Government through the Commission on Population in partnership with the school and its corresponding Local Government Unit (LGU) helped one another to establish the multi-purpose teen center in their locality.

The project aims to lessen the instances of teenage pregnancy, drug addiction, truancy, and students risk of dropping out (SARDO).

The town of Tubungan is one of the lucky recipients of the Tender Loving Care (TLC) Teen Center. In 2014, the TLC was inaugurated and Mrs. Visminda dela Villa was acted as the coordinator while Ma’am Tanalgo is the co-coordinator.

Since 2015 up to the present, Ma’am Tanalgo was designated as the teen center coordinator. Under her management, TLC has stood firm amidst some encountered minor problems. As a whole, the TLC contributes to the peace and order situation of the town because it provides access appropriately, user-friendly and accessible service on health, provides information, education, and communication (IEC) materials, counseling, peer-tutorial, values formation, and referral and health promotion strategies for effectively address health needs.

Also, the TLC offers the following in which the students could enjoy spending their time during their vacant period such as 
board games, music room, film showing, prayer area, and study hub.

Ma’am Tanalgo said spending time staying at the teen center could help students to stay away from bad vices and making things that could destroy their studies.

SCHOOL GARDENING

Since school 2016- up to the present as a Pantawid focal designated of the school, Ma’am Tanalgo said through her initiative and with the help of 4Ps beneficiaries, they constructed a vegetable garden during the Brigada Eskwela with the cooperation of both parents and Pantawid students.

At the start of the class, the students are the one maintaining the garden. The parents and students planted petchay, eggplant, okra, lettuce, and papaya, among others. The yields of these plants are either sold or used in the feeding program of the school for the wasted and severely wasted students. He added some vegetables are also sold to teachers as part of the income generating project of the parents and students.//Edit by MGC