14 LUMEN | EVENTS
Fullerton-SJI Leadership Lecture Series II
Men
with others , Men by Eliza Lim
for others
The second series of the Fullerton-SJI Leadership Lectures continued in 2013 with the first international Lasallian speaker – Brother Armin A . Luistro FSC ( 31 May ), followed by Mr K . F . Seetoh ( 2 August ) and concluded with President Dr Tony Tan Keng Yam ( 5 November ). These speakers , despite their diverse backgrounds and experiences , all displayed Lasallian values in their DNA – being men for others , to be the best that they can be , to lead useful lives and to contribute to society .
Br . Armin A . Luistro FSC – Secretary of the Department of Education of the Philippines , was a self-proclaimed “ reluctant leader ” who has now pledged to see to the education concerns of every Filipino child of every school , colour and affiliation .
“ My only one dream in life was to be the type of person who would take care of me the way I was not taken care of when I was in school ... As a teenager , one of my dreams was to make sure that the next generation does not experience what I experienced - a middle child average student syndrome . So I told myself I ’ d like to be a teacher .”
And that was exactly what Brother Armin A Luistro did . He completed his elementary and high school education at De La Salle Lipa , earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy and Letters , and Master ’ s Degree in Religious Education and Values Education at De La Salle University , Manila . After completing his Doctor of Educational Management degree at the University of St . La Salle , Bacolod City , he was conferred an Honorary Doctorate in Humane Letters ( honoris causa ) by La Salle University in Philadelphia , USA .
Any serious teacher or educator knows that whatever we do will make a difference ...
Br . Amin A . Luistro , FSC
Prior to becoming the Secretary for the Department of Education in the Philippines , he was also the President of the De La Salle University and co-founded De La Salle University in Indonesia .
When Br . Armin first came to office in 2010 , he assessed the current education situation in
Philippines and published them : “ We said we needed five important inputs into Philippine education so that we will be able to address that . First , we needed 100,000 teachers , we needed around 70,000 classrooms , we needed 90,000 toilets , we needed around 6 million textbooks and maybe around 3 million armchairs .” It may sound impossible , but Br . Armin gladly reported that the textbook and armchair shortages were addressed in December last year .
While discussing topics such as bribery , life as a brother and future plans for Philippine ’ s education system , he emphasized on the role of teachers .
“ Teachers , educators know that our task is not purely just to teach . Our task is to make sure that the environment where our students go will be able to be one where they will thrive and enjoy , where they will be safe and where they will know that there are adults , there ’ s someone there who cares sincerely for them ... Any serious teacher or educator knows that whatever we do will make a difference , maybe in the next generation , not necessarily in our time ... We must always , as educators , always live in hope and say that whatever we do , even the simplest [ thing ] believe that this can change my world .”
“ One of the wonderful things I do is to visit our 46,000 schools , at least in my dreams ... But the wonder of wonders is that for every school I have visited , the only thing I do seriously is to enter the classrooms and sit with the students at the back . When I sit at the back of the room , I actually look at the eyes of the students in those classrooms . And when I see that they are engaged , then I know there is a teacher , a good one , a dedicated teacher in that school .”
He has since hired 61,000 teachers just in May alone and he understands that not all of them have the heart to be a