Today is the last day of May and tomorrow is the first day of June, the month poor parents,especially for Boholano parents, don't want to come because it means it is the start of classes. Not only does it signal the start of classes, it also comes after May, the month Boholanos spend their money for fiestas. By June every pocket is virtually empty. So even with the ‘no collection policy' of the Department of Education (DepEd) during enrolment in all public schools, the month of June is still themonth that poor parents don't want to come at all. Parents must double time their efforts in order to pay for the other school needs of their children. In the midst of financial problems, parents must strive to send their children to school because they have always been told that good education is the only bridge to a better life for their children.

But sometimes even good intentions and hard work are not enough no matter what the Constitution says about elementary and high school education being free. Some children must stop schooling to help their poor parents earn a decent living or they will be driven to commit illegal and criminal activities. Not even the scholarships offered by government can save many children from dropping out of school. And once a child drops out of school, it will be difficult to coax him or her to go back especially if he or she is made to return to the same school where he or she used to be enrolled. I know of many children who have dropped from elementary school who don't want to go back to the same school because of fear of being taunted if not bullied by their former classmates who are now in higher classes. They would rather suffer the lack of education than be insulted or harassed by their classmates or school mates. Sooner or later they become recruits by illegal and criminal elements of society.

They become instruments and tools of organized crime groups who use minors to perpetrate their illegal activities knowing there is a law banning minors from being put to prison. I encountered a 12-year old boy who tried to sell to me a gold necklace for a very cheap price. I asked him where he got it and he said he snatched it from a foreigner in Tubigon wharf. When I asked him if he was not afraid to be caught by the police, his smart answer was “dili man sad silakaprisonakokaybata man ko.” (They can't put me to prison because I am just a child). This boy could not have known it if he was not told about it by a consenting adult. We may say that this fear of parents for the coming of the month of June has no basis at all but we see the ill effects every now and then in our society. And when we personally encounter this ill effect, only then do we realize that programs like free school bags and uniforms offered by local government units are good programs that minimize drop outs and use of minors for criminal activities.

For private businessmen and corporations who are looking for a good CSR project, this is one good project to implement. This is what makes the giant TV networks popular because we always see them giving out school bags, raincoats, uniforms, and slippers to children of the poor in far-flung barangays that have been forgotten by government. This way the y can help poor parents not to fear the coming of June anymore.