Schools In

Once more across the 700 islands the streets of the baranays are safe once more. Well up till 2 in the afternoon.


Not only is it the start of the rainy season, but last Monday the new school year started. Around 6 am jeepneys and tricycles were awash with girls in their check skits and white blouses and boys in their dark pants and white shirts as these ‘eager” students head for first class of the day.

From 6.40am until 2pm the Philippine education system tries to instill the rudimentary skills of Filipino, English, science, social studies, and mathematics that will enable its charges to pursue a tertiary calling. For anyone who wants a half way decent job here a tertiary education is essential.

From now until April next year, except for a couple of weeks at Christmas and term breaks this will be the week day scenario. Once more the streets will be safe for vehicles, well at least for a few hours a day.

Edit: As Bob from Mindanao pointed out, there are over 7000 islands in the philippines, I stand corrected for that missed typo at the start of this post. BTW you can see his photo blog at http://www.mindanao.com/photoblog/