eSkwela: Inspiring education for the differently abled

originally posted on PhiCeCNet.ph by Melody (20 Nov 2009)
 

With no school sufficiently prepared to accept a student with muscular
dystrophy, Phil Ray Neri absorbed everything he can from his first teacher, his mother. At nine years old, he began to read and dreamt of going to school one day. His disability never hindered him from pursuing an education and a normal student life.

Now, the boy who was once deprived of education is already taking up Bachelor of Science in Information Technology (BSIT) at the Mindanao University of Science and Technology (formerly Mindanao Polytechnic State College) through a scholarship grant from Congressman Rufus B. Rodriguez.

Phil Ray Neri shared this and more to the participants of the eSkwela session during the recently concluded Cagayan de Oro leg of Convergence 2009 last November 12-13, 2009.

Phil Ray got his elementary credentials from the Individualized Curriculum for Educating Children with disability (ICEC), a curriculum established and developed by his mother and his doctor, Dr. Enrique Ampo in Cagayan de Oro Public Library with the approval of former city mayor Hon. Vicente Emano.

In 2005, he obtained an elementary graduate certification after passing the Department of Education’s Accreditation and Equivalency (A&E) examination. At eleven years old, he officially enrolled under the Commission on ICT-DepEd eSkwela Program. Two months later, all his hard work paid off as he passed both his high school screening and the A&E exam for high school, making history as the first differently abled student to have taken and passed both exams in Cagayan de Oro City.

Now a college freshman, Phil Ray looks back and encourages other learners to dream big. “Believe in miracles because our faith and hopes keep us going with our daily lives,” he concludes.

Through his story, Phil Ray hopes to inspire people to their fullest potential, believing that in eSkwela, everything is possible.