Suzanne Rivera (CDN PHOTO/CRIS LATO)
THIRD OF FIVE PARTS
There is an Honest Store operating in Malabon City and it is operated by both students and teachers.
The “store” was initiated by Tinajeros National High School teacher Suzanne Rivera to help students understand and apply in real life the values of honesty and integrity.
“Our goal is to make honesty a habit. A habit becomes a virtue that will shape the character of the person. So no matter where she goes, whatever work she is involved in, she will always side with her good moral values,” said Rivera, who teaches Edukasyon sa Pagpapakatao (used to be called Values Education) in nine sections in Grade seven.
The store started in 2014 in the sections that Rivera handled.
A small box containing school supplies and candies stays in one section for a week. Interested customers take what they need and leave their payment in the box.
Within three months, the Honest Store showed positive impact among the attitudes of the students, so the entire school adopted it.
The “store” has been operating in the school for two years now and the concept has been replicated by the Department of Education (DepEd) Malabon Division to 10 other schools in the area.
Character
Exhausted from reading negative news stories about graft and corruption, Rivera decided to take a more proactive role in molding the character of her students.
She teaches values education but she saw the need to deepen the students’ understanding of these values.
“In the field of education, there is a general emphasis on how knowledge and skills are developed. However, many of us fail to take note of the bigger need: to develop the heart or the character of the students,” she shared.
Rivera has been teaching for 18 years – 11 years in a private school and seven years in the public school – and can testify to how character builds a person.
“We have so many brilliant leaders but they lack the heart for genuine service,” said Rivera.
Challenges
During the first three months of the Honest Store, the box lost school supplies and money.
“At first it was five pesos and then there was 11 pesos. I used to announce to the whole class how many candies are left in the box but I do not do that anymore because the (class) president gives his or her own money to pay for the unaccounted amount,” she said.
Today, only Rivera and the class president knows the total number of candies or the equivalent amount of school supplies left in the box.
On days when the earnings do not match the inventory of goods sold, Rivera takes it as a cue to talk to her students about the importance of honesty and the impact of their actions.
Teacher Suzanne and her students at the Tinajeros National High School in Malabon City (CDN PHOTO/CRIS LATO).
Habit
The money earned from the Honest Store goes into a scholarship fund, which is used to provide the weekly allowance of least privileged students.
“When there are cases of unaccounted money, I tell my students that it is not just about the 11 pesos we lost. It is about the opportunity they took away from their fellow students who can go to school because they have allowance,” she said.
Currently, the school has six scholars.
Apart from the Honesty Store, Rivera also spearheads the ESP Club which aims to awake the sense of volunteerism and responsibility among students.
On weekends and after school hours, Rivera and her students visit homeless families and participate in feeding projects and clean-up activities.
The students would bring friends in these activities so the membership grew from nine to 45 students.
Rivera said the Honesty Store teaches students values needed as a person faces the challenges of real life.
This is very important as her students are between the ages of 13 and 16, who are in the crucial stage of adolescence.
“This might be a small project but I realized that the very little things that matter such as the character and values of a person play big roles in the decisions we make in life,” she said.