CHAPTER 1

The Problem and Its Background

Introduction

The school plays a significant role in the development of a pupil’s well-rounded

personality. Its principal role is the total development of each individual pupil into a

useful and worthy citizen in this complex society.

Gregorio stated in his Principles and Methods of Teaching, that “the most

common factors which affect the learning process are the intellectual, physical,

emotional, and social factors that may be found in the individual himself.” 1 He also

revealed “learning is effective when the learner utilizes more senses. The combination

of seeing and hearing with touch, taste, and smell will facilitate the learning and

understanding of the learning situation. The use of different senses will also add

effectiveness in causing learning to be meaningful and functional.” 2

However, there are some factors in the school environment that intervene in the

effective use of the senses, thus affecting the learning process. Among these factors are

air and noise pollution, the poor physical condition of the pupils, (poor eyesight,

defective hearing, malnutrition, headache, and sleepiness) and the poor ventilation of

the school facilities. Similarly, the teachers’ efficiency is conditioned by the state of

their health and by environmental conditions.

1
Herman C. Gregorio, Principles and Methods of Teaching, (Quezon City:
Garcia Publishing Co., 1976), 125-126.
2
Gregorio, 125-126.
 2

Health, sanitation and environmental improvement should be geared to the

needs of the pupils or the community in general. Section 15 of Article II of the 1987

Philippine Constitution states that “The State shall protect and promote the right to

health of the people and instill health consciousness among them”3. In support of this

provision, Section 16 of the same article declares “ The State shall protect and advance

the right of the people to a balanced and healthful ecology in accord with the rhythm

and harmony of nature.”4

It is this mandate that strengthened the researcher’s interest to conduct a study

concerning the environmental condition of the school where she teaches. The researcher

has been teaching in Balumbato Elementary School in Quezon City for nine years. She

has observed that the environmental condition within the vicinity of the school seems

not to be conducive to learning. She believes that the success of a school system can be

facilitated by a clean and safe environment where effective learning can take place.

Hence, the school as an agency in the community has the responsibility in improving its

environmental condition.

Setting of the Study

Balumbato is one of the barangays of District II in Quezon City. Historically,

Balumbato was a part of Barangay Unang Sigaw or Balintawak. Due to its increasing

population, a petition for the separation of Balumbato from Balintawak was made by

the barangay folks. Their petition was granted by virtue of Presidential Decree 1316.

3
1987 Philippine Constitution
4
1987 Philippine Constitution
3
 4

Balumbato, according to the elders, derived its name from the pure stone wells

that can be found in the area. It is bounded on the north by Baesa; on the south, by

Unang Sigaw; on the west, by Bagong Barrio Caloocan City, and on the east, by

Samson Road.

As shown on Figure 1, Balumbato is an industrialized community with a land

area of 24.56 hectares. In the barangay are industrial firms engaged in the production of

kitchen utensils, steel smelting, pulp papermaking, recycling, and tetra packaging. There

are approximately 139 business establishments in the area, 30% of which are well-

known factories like the Universal Steel Smelting Company, the Philippine Bed

Manufacturing Inc., Papercorn (Phils.) Inc., and HAIER LKG Appliances Corp.

The total population of Balumbato was 5,157 as of September 1995 (NSO).

Some of these people are not permanent residents; they rent their apartment homes from

prominent families in the area, while some families are just squatting under the

Camachile Bridge. Illegal dumping, squatting, drugs, floods, traffic, and rapid increase

of population are among the common problems of the barangay.5

Balumbato Elementary School, which was founded 36 years ago, is one of the

four schools under School District VII. At first, the school was housed in a rented

residential building owned by the Salazar family. For twenty (20) years, classes were

held in congested classrooms, which were originally designed as bedrooms. Makeshift

rooms were built to accommodate the increasing population. In the 80’s, the Quezon

City Government was able to purchase a lot with a land area of 5,182.62 square meters

5
Baranggay Profile, Baranggay Operations Center, Quezon City Hall.
 5

near the school site. While teaching and learning were taking place in the makeshift

rooms, the construction of the new building was going on.

In 1983, the 10-room two-storey building of Balumbato Elementary School was

inaugurated by Mayor Adelina Rodriguez, the incumbent Mayor at that time, with the

assistance of the former Division Superintendent Dr. Edna B. Azurin. In 1999, the

Federation of Filipino-Chinese Chambers of Commerce donated a two-classroom

building. Today, Balumbato Elementary School continues to serve the community with

a faculty composed of 23 teachers who are mostly masteral and doctoral degree holders

and two utility workers. The school has a population of 720 pupils with Mrs. Edelmira

P. Barber as the newly appointed principal.

Conceptual Framework

Among the four schools in School District VII in the Division of Quezon City,

Balumbato Elementary School has the least number of pupils. The school premises are

quite big for its enrollment. In spite of this advantage, problems with respect to the

health conditions of the pupils are still perceptible. Aside from the problem of mass

demolition, it is suspected that the environmental conditions in the school contribute to

the relatively poor health of the pupils and cause the transfer of pupils to nearby

schools.

Knirk theorized that temperature, relative humidity, air movement, odor, and air

cleanliness are important when providing a comfortable environment for learning. The

human organism is highly adaptive, but a student cannot attend, perceive, or process

information easily when his or her physical environment is uncomfortable.

 6

He also revealed that the psychological and physical health of the student and

the faculty are important to school planners. The physical plant must be stimulating to

the learners and should ease teaching-learning tasks. Facilities planning should take into

consideration all those design features that affect learning such as the reduction of the

undesirable background noise. The more obtrusive the noise, the more complex the

learning task, the greater the probability of interference with performance.6

There are some schools that are situated in areas bordering streets where the

noise of traffic is a constant distraction and where the teachers and pupils have to shout

to hear each other. A school is classified as Class AA -- a contiguous area that requires

quietness within 100 meters of 45 decibels.7 (See Appendix B-1 for Ambient Noise

Quality Standard).

A research finding suggested that students/pupils learn best when the

temperature is 70 to 74 degrees Fahrenheit, and when the relative humidity is between

40 and 60 percent. (Relative humidity is the amount of moisture in the air as compared

with the maximum amount that the air could contain at the same temperature, expressed

as a percentage)8

Among the three points of views discussed by Lardizabal in evaluating the

effectiveness of the school relative to its physical environment, the following questions

Frederick G. Knirk, Designing Productive Learning Environments, (New

6

York: McGraw Hill Book, 1979), 63.

7
DENR-EMB Official Gazette, Section 78, Ambient Noise Quality
Standards.
8
Compton's Interactive Encyclopedia © 1999.
 7

were asked: In what kind of environment is the school situated? Is it flexible and

beautiful? conducive to learning? healthy? and peaceful?9

A good environment is necessary to get maximum results in learning. According

to the law of effect, one learns better and retains longer what is learned under pleasant

physical and mental conditions.

At this point, the researcher recognized a problem related to the aforementioned

background and came up with the following questions: Does pollution exist in the

community? What could be its perceived effects on the pupils’ health? Figure 2

illustrates the conceptual framework of the study.

9
Amparo S. Lardizabal, Foundations of Education (Psychological,
Sociological, and Anthropological, (Manila: Rex Bookstore, 1988), 58.
 8

 Noise
Environmental level
Condition
meter
Surrounding the
Balumbato  Air
Elementary pollution Effects on the
School assessme Health of the
nt report pupils
 Laborator
 Noise
y
 Air
Analyses
 Water for water
 Soil and soil
 Perceptio
n of the
responde

Figure 2

The Variables and their Relationship

 9

In the diagram, a straight line between the environmental situation and the

health of the pupils indicates a direct connection. The researcher postulates that the

environmental situation has a great effect on the health of the pupils.

Statement of the Problem

This study aimed to analyze the effects of environmental conditions surrounding

Balumbato Elementary School on the health of its pupils during school year 2001-2002.

More specifically, this study sought to answer the following questions:

1. What is the environmental condition existing within the vicinity of Balumbato

Elementary School with regard to:

1.1 Noise pollution;

1.2 Air pollution;

1.3 Water pollution; and

1.4 Soil pollution?

2 What are the causes of these aforementioned environmental problems?

3 How do the pupils, parents, and teacher respondents perceive the effects of the

environmental problems?

4 What are the diseases commonly contracted by the pupils?

Hypothesis

There are no significant relationships among the perception of the respondents

as regards the effects of pollution on the pupils’ health.

 10

Scope and Delimitation of the Study

The study was conducted at the Balumbato Elementary School in Quezon City.

It focused on the analysis of the environmental conditions around the school. Special

attention was focused on the extent of air, noise, land, and water pollution and their

effects on the health of the pupils. The diseases commonly contracted by the pupils

were also included in the study.

The study was conducted between July and November 2001. The total

population of the school was 728. Only the pupils in Grades III-VI were included in the

study because the pupils in these grade levels could already observe and understand the

environmental conditions prevailing in the school.

The respondents consisted of 200 pupils from Grades III, IV, V, and VI, and

either one of each pupil’s parents, which totaled 400. Twenty-one teachers were also

chosen to complete the required number of respondents. A total of 421 respondents,

therefore, were chosen for this study.

Importance of the Study

The writer believes that this study would benefit the pupils, the teachers, and the

school administrators of Balumbato Elementary School, the parents of the pupils, the

municipal and barangay officials, and the community, as a whole. It will also be of

importance to the management of the factories and other commercial establishments

surrounding the school, and the future researchers in general. This study may provide

vital information regarding the level of air, noise, and water pollution in the area and

their effects on the health of the pupils.

 11

A committed teacher gets acquainted with the needs and problems of his pupils

and their community life. A teacher becomes more effective in his job if he knows the

real conditions existing in the locality. The results of this study may supplement what

the teachers already know about Barangay Balumbato and may give them an insight

into how they could help make the community a better place to live in.

For school administrators, the study may serve as the basis for the improvement

and upgrading of the school facilities to answer the teachers and pupils’ need for a

healthful environment that will facilitate both teaching and learning.

Parents are the partners of the school in the education of their children. An

understanding of the findings of this study will motivate the parents to collaborate with

the school in the implementation of community programs for the improvement, not only

of the environmental conditions around the school, but also of the health of the pupils.

Municipal and barangay officials are striving for the economic, as well as the

environmental, development of their community so that the citizens residing therein

would be able to enjoy a better quality of life. Their goals include the maintenance of

health and sanitation in their locality. To meet their goals, careful planning of their

programs should be undertaken. To attain this end, they need reliable and valid data,

which could be provided by this study.

The owners and managers of the factories and other commercial establishments

in the locality must be conscious of the environmental problems that are caused by the

operation of their machineries. By means of this study, they will be made aware of their

responsibility to comply with the standards and requirements of the DENR and of other

authorities concerning environmental preservation.

 12

Furthermore, the researcher hopes that the results of this study will be utilized

by the people in authority to improve the environmental conditions of Balumbato

Elementary School and eventually, the health of the pupils.

Definition of Terms

The following terms were defined as they were used in the context for better

understanding of this study.

Air Pollution. This refers to the transfer of harmful amounts of natural and

synthetic materials into the atmosphere as a direct or an indirect consequence of human

activity. It is the contamination of the atmosphere by dust, gas, and droplets by man or

human beings that is detrimental to the health and/or welfare of people. 10

Carboxyhemoglobin. It is a stable compound formed in the blood.

When inhaled, carbon monoxide binds with hemoglobin, thus preventing

hemoglobin from binding with oxygen.

Coliform Organisms. (Total Coliforms) These refer to any rod shaped,

non-spore forming, gram-negative bacteria.

Decibel. It is a unit of measure (abbreviated dB) originally used to compare

sound intensities. It is used as an absolute indicator of sound power per unit area. 11

Drinking Water. Water intended for direct human consumption or for use in

food preparation.
10
Charles E. Kupchella and Margaret C. Hayland, Environmental Science,
(Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1989), 281.
11
WWW: http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci213525,00.html,
November 3, 2001.
 13

Environmental Condition. It refers to the ecological and physical situation

that deals with noise, air, land, and water.

Environmental Illness. It is a disease process primarily triggered by over-

exposure to dust, smoke, and water and noise pollution.

Health. It is defined as the general physical, mental, and emotional ability to

function effectively and in harmony with one's environment. It is a condition that

represents a range of physical and emotional states.

Hertz. (Hz) It is the Sound Intensity unit of frequency equal to one cycle per

second.

Hydrocarbon. It is an organic chemical compound containing only hydrogen

and carbon atoms.

Noise Pollution. It refers to the unsatisfying sound in different intensities

carried by water or air that could be irritating to the ears depending on the distance of

the producer. This also refers to the noise caused by heavy traffic and machineries and

boilers of the factories surrounding the school. 12

Pathogens. These are microorganisms that can cause disease, such as bacterium

or virus.

Soil Pollution. It is the presence of hazardous wastes and heavy metals in the

soil that may be absorbed by plants and animals and causes environmental illnesses.

Smog. It is a mixture of smoke (particulates) and fog, caused by industrial and

automobile pollution. It is compounded by temperature inversions, which cause the air

12
Edwin Kiester, Jr., “The Noise We Live In” Signature, (April, 1971).
 14

pollution to be kept in a particular area for extended periods. Continued exposure to

smog can result in respiratory problems, eye irritation, and even death.13

Traffic. It refers to the overcrowding or congestion of motor vehicles.

Water Pollution. It is the alteration of the natural quality or potability of the

drinking water as a result of the impact of human activities. 14

13
Microsoft® Encarta® Encyclopedia 2002. © 1993-2001 Microsoft
Corporation. All rights reserved.
14
DENR-EMB Information Campaign Poster 2001.