Correspondence Reports:
Expanding the revolutionary instructors' pool in Camarines Sur

Basahin ang artikulong ito sa Pilipino

During the platoon's assessment last June, Ka Nell, political officer and tasked with taking the lead in educational work, asked "What else can we do?" The unit's area of responsibility covered mountainous, lowland and coastal barangays of some tens of thousands of people. Expansion and consolidation were fruitful, resulting in over a hundred organizing groups, organizing committees and full-fledged mass organizations. But because the platoon's nine instructors and local mass organizations' few dozen were stretched thin, many targets for basic mass courses weren't being met.

"Yet," stressed Ka Nell, "the mass courses are so important for firing initiative and more active involvement in revolutionary work and struggles." Ka Mel,

Then and there, the territory's current education machinery was identified, its weaknesses assessed and then a plan to strengthen the area's all-important National Democratic School drawn up.

A Mass Course Instructor's Training (MCIT) was held as soon as possible after the assessment for instructors from the ranks of the full-time Red fighters and from the local mass organizations. The organizers were swamped with requests to attend because it was initially announced as open not only to novice instructors but also to those who wanted to become instructors for the first time. As with many such activities, not everyone could be accommodated and the eagerness of the comrades and the masses had to be tempered by security and logistical concerns.

The two-week training successfully pushed through with participants from the platoon, neighboring guerilla units and local organizations. Ka Sammy, one of the trainers, noted laughingly: "Comrades were still a little shy at the start but by the practicum at the end of the training, you virtually had to restrain everyone because they didn't want to stop at giving just short sections of the courses as practice!" The training was extended to give extra practicum time because, he smiles, "that kind of enthusiasm you just have to seize and build on."

It was also decided that novice instructors be tasked to give trainings through a buddy-system with two or three of them dividing a course between themselves. A more experienced instructor would discreetly monitor them as they taught and a criticism-self criticism session would quickly follow to see strengths and weaknesses. The MCIT earlier made these "on-the-job-trainings" easier by increasing the novices' confidence and by equipping them with an initial set of lesson plans, visual aids and cultural numbers.

The shift to the platoon from the armed propaganda units as the basic formation was an important facilitating factor. Now, the more advanced cadres could more easily train the newer instructors even if just by helping them overcome their anxieties. Ka Paulo who only finished the third grade but was bold in giving the Short Course in Philippine Society and Revolution (SCPSR) recalls how he used to freeze in front of the class and just feel like hiding behind the reference text in his hand. At those times, he now grins when remembering, "an encouraging nod and a smile from a comrade in the back may have been the only thing that boosted my confidence."

Outside of actual sessions, discussions of basic revolutionary theory and principles were encouraged to sharpen everyone's grasp of them. The vice platoon leader and sometimes too serious Ka Charlie admits, "actually it's when comrades start making spontaneous jokes taking off from revolutionary theory that you confirm how deep their understanding of it already is." He also smilingly notes the advantage of camps sometimes being quieter with some of the naughtier comrades settling down instead to read. "Oh, and we have yet to really get our internal literacy program going but hopefully we'll get around to it soon," he adds.

The platoon also took pains to come up with more texts and visual aids. With the help of allies in the city, they were able to come up with some 50 books compiling the basic courses. Half were in full 8-1/2"x11" size pages and printed in large letters to be given to local instructors; the rest were in handy quarter-size volumes easily stored in Red fighters' backpacks. Visuals for the courses were drawn with pentel pens on cartolina and old calendars, made sturdier against tearing by taping their edges, or silk-screened on cloth. Maps, pictures and even an inflatable globe were collected.

By the end of the year, half of the platoon were able to confidently give at least some basic mass courses apart from the solid core that could give even the more advanced Party courses. The lack of instructors is no longer a problem even when the platoon breaks up into squads for mass work over an extended area. Education committees of local RMOs, the backbone of the territory's education machinery, are stronger than ever.

The unit's greater confidence in propaganda work is also noticeable. Ka Ren dropped out before finishing the sixth grade to give way to his youngest brothers who were just starting grade school. Yet he says, still surprised at himself, "sometimes I find myself discussing at length national issues with schoolteachers and businessmen or land reform with farmers old enough to be my grandfather."

At first glance, it might seem that the teachers of the NPA and RMOs are hobbled by low levels of formal education. Overwhelmingly drawn from the impoverished peasant masses, many of the comrades had to stop schooling at an early age to help work on their fields or simply because their families couldn't afford it. But sheer determination borne of revolutionary spirit goes a long way. For many all it took was building up the confidence to at least try first for them to realize that, indeed, they could be good revolutionary instructors.

21 February 2004
English Edition

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