One student excuse letter goes viral after teacher, Christian Jay Ordoña posted it on social media. Ordoña was used to receiving excuse letters from his students, especially for being sick. This letter, though, caught him completely off guard.
As part of his regular routine, Ordoña, who teaches Grade 8 students at Bongabon National High School in Nueva Ecija, monitors attendance of the first period classes. He had noticed a recent decline in one particular girl’s attendance. She shyly approached him and handed him a letter.
The 14-year-old student, Marinel V. de Guzman, had this to say in her, now viral letter:
The English translation of this touching letter is as follows:
July 9, 2018
Dear Sir Jay,
Sorry sir Jay, I was not able to come and attend my class this morning. I do not have food nor an allowance. It was just this afternoon that my mother was able to find money for us.
I’m sorry.
Respectfully yours,
Marinel De Guzman
Ordoña was overwhelmed with emotion at the girl’s story. The caption on the Facebook post reads:
“My heart was crushed,”
Ordoña understood the magnitude of the situation and he added, “If you don’t have money when you go to school, you won’t be able to eat, and you won’t be able to pay to commute going to school and heading home afterward.”
Marinel’s parent’s worked hard. Her mother worked sorting fruits and vegetables and her father held two jobs as a coal miner and a farmer. Despite her parent’s attempts to provide for their family, they were simply not able to make ends meet on the $2/day that they made. Marinel is the fourth child of five in her family. There were too many mouths to feed and not enough money to go around.
Ordoña wanted to raise awareness for Marinel and countless others like her. He posted the letter in hopes of educating and inspiring people. After the student excuse letter goes viral, everyone begins to realize just how widespread the problem is. If people don’t help, girls like Marinel will slip through the cracks.
This was not the first case like this that Ordoña had seen. He estimates that there are 5-10 such students in each class. They cannot attend school due to financial issues.
In a report by the Philippine Statistics Authority, 1 in every 10 Filipinos aged 6 to 24 years old is an out of school youth (OSCY), 20.2% of them attribute their inability to study due to financial concerns and the high cost of education.
Once Marinel’s story was out, others begin to come forward and share their concerns and their stories as well. Facebook user Christdel Due Sigua wrote “While I was reading this, there were tears in my eyes. I know this feeling, especially when I had a student like this who stopped going to school because that student helped their parents.”
As of this date, the post has 19,661 shares and over 71,000 reactions. The school’s foundation, Anak ng Bongabon Foundation, Inc. immediately began receiving pledges. Marinel’s studies will be funded by the foundation until she finishes college. She will also be receiving a weekly allowance of P500 (9 USD).
Marinel is extremely grateful and hopes that other children receive such blessings.
“I promise to study hard and work hard for all of the people who helped me and my family.”
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