Walang Maiiwan

A Documentary Review

Walang Maiiwan is a documentary film by Kara David produced by iWitness under GMA
Networks. This is about the number of students at risk of dropping out of school at Burgos East
Elementary School, San Guillermo, Isabela. The documentary shows the struggles of students to their
way to school every day, where they have to cross a river and walk a mile to reach school, which has
become one of the reasons why students do not come to school to continue their studies.

Aside from the distance of school to the students’ households, the following were the reasons of
students at risk of dropping out of school:

1. Students have to work. The primary source of income in the community is farming. Parents,
having big family, could not fully sustain their basic needs, especially food, which makes them let their
children work to help them.
2. Students have become parents to their siblings. Most of the families do not own farms. They
have to work for other farms even those that are far from their household. During harvest time, parents
or older members of the families have to work for weeks away from their home which left students to
take care of their younger siblings and not being able to come to school until their parents return.
3. Students lack support from parents. Making a living to sustain daily needs has been every
family’s greatest problem. With this, parents think that the only way that could make them sustain their
needs is to have their children stop schooling for this only wastes their time and money which is
impractical for them.
4. Mindset of the parents and those in the community. People in the community think that
when a child reach Grade 3, he may already stop schooling for he is already taught how to read and
write which are the only important things they may get from studying. They think that there is no other
better career for their children but farmers, for it is what their parents do.
5. Students are left with no choice. Hopeful students are left without choice but to do as their
family commands. They see what their family really needs which is making a living; not going to school
learning things that would not feed their hunger.

The students that are at risk of dropping out of school are those that were not coming to school
for weeks already. They were interviewed and asked what they really want for themselves, either to
help their family in making a living or to continue their studies. The students answered that if they were
given chances and opportunities to continue school, they would love to. But they are not. They also said
that if they do not help their parents, they are scolded by them and were told that if they come to
school, they will be outcast from their home.

Burgos East Elementary School is only one of the many schools in the Philippines that have
students at risk for dropping out of school. And their reasons do not differ. There are a lot of public
schools in the Philippines, yet the number of out-of-school youth is still increasing. The reasons are not
changing, so the solutions are. Aside from providing schools with new buildings and all that it needs, I
think what the government and the people in the Education Department must do is to impart
Awareness to the families that learning that does not only stop when students already know how to
read and write. The parents must be aware that because of education, their children may, one day, give
them the life they ever dreamt of; and that their children also have their own dreams that need support
from their parents. The government may also offer other sources of income to the families from these
far places.

This documentary is entitled Walang Maiiwan because it does not only show the struggles of
students, but also the immeasurable sacrifices and supports given by their teachers. Their teachers do
everything to support their students in any ways they can, and that they believe that no student in
Burgos East Elementary School must be left in pursuing their dreams.