2 Bicolanas land 9th place in teachers exams
By Paolo Gabriel D. Jamer
Two Bicolana elementary education graduates landed on the 9th place in the September 2021 licensure examination for teacher.
The duo are April Joy E. Tamayo of Ateneo de Naga University (AdeNU) and Nika S. Ausejo of Ligao Community College. Both finished Bachelor of Science in Education major in Elementary Education.
Tamayo, who graduated in 2020 grew up with her mother because her father died in a vehicular accident when she was still little. Her mother owns an eatery and sari-sari store. In an interview, Tamayo said that her childhood was fun and memorable.
In 2017, Tamayo enrolled in AdeNU as an education student with English as her major. According to her, she pursued education because she loved teaching since she was a kid. She added that she would pretend to be a teacher and her cousins were her students. However, her studies were interrupted because she got pregnant.
“I did not think about going back to college anymore,” Tamayo said.
No matter what, her mother’s love and sacrifice for her and her son, pushedTamayo to return to college but this time she shifted and majored in elementary education. “I shifted my major to elementary education so that I can make my mother proud someday.”
The Covid-19 pandemic delayed her plans. “The Board exam was canceled three times since I filed for Licensure Examination for Teachers (LET) in March 2020. That time, I lost my momentum in review. I forgot all the lessons that I studied and I did not think of taking an exam during the pandemic. I’ve planned for applying to reschedule my exam for I am not ready pa po since almost a year po akong tambay sa bahay, but PRC’s application for rescheduling is tapos na and hindi ko na naabutan. So sabi ko sa sarili ko sige self bahala na si Lord. Tutuloy ko na ito. Mag eexam ako kahit ayaw pa ni Mama because of pandemic”, Tamayo narrated.
Her Alma Mater, AdeNU, garnered a 100 percent passing rate from the elementary education department and 83 percent passing rate from the secondary department. Also, the Special Learning Package (SLP) Batch 2019 got a 100 percent passing rate, Arnulfo Aaron R. Reganit, director of the Ateneo Teacher Training Center said.
Maria Luz T. Badiola, Ph.D., MA, LPT, AdeNU College of Education dean, April Tamayo will be awarded a cash prize by the university for her feat.
Tamayo’s message to all aspiring educators is, “Teaching is more than just a profession, it is driven by strong passion and dedication for it is a calling.”