RIZAL'S CHILDHOOD
AND EARLY EDUCATION
REPORTER: JHOYLYN FELARCA FUASAN
Jose Rizal
(Jose Protacio
Mercado Rizal
y Alonso
Jose Rizal (Jose Protacio Mercado
Rizal y Alonso Realonda) was born on
June 19. 1861 at Calamba, Laguna,
According to some readings, his mother
nearly died during his delivery because
of his big head. Mercado Rizal and
Three days after his birth, Rizal was
baptized on June 22 of the said year
with the name Jose Rizal Mercado at the
Catholic church of Calamba by the
parish priest Rev. Rufino Collantes. He
was the seventh child of Francisco.
During 1865-1867, his
mother taught him how to
read and write. At the age of
three, Rizal mastered and
leamed the alphabet taught
by his mother. At a very
young age, he has shown
great interest in reading.
When Jose Rizal degree
holder, his parents acquired
private tutors to give him
lessons at home in preparation
for his formal education. One
of them was Leon Monroy, a
classmate of his father who
taught him the rudiments of
Latin.
At about this time, his
mother's cousin, Uncle
Manuel Alberto, who
frequently visited the family
in Calamba was worried
about his nephew's physical
development.
He then taught Rizal to
develop the skills in
swimming fencing, wresting
and other sports, while
Uncle Jose fought him to
love and admire the beauty
of nature. On the other
hand..
Uncle Gregorio a scholar
has instilled in Rizal's mind the
love for education and its
importance, the value of hard
work, to think for himself, and
to observe his surroundings
carefully. When he was four
years old, his sister
Concepcion, the eighth child in
the Rizal family, died at the
This was the first time
he cried as a young boy. As
sad as he was, the parish
priest of Calamba, Father
Leoncio Lopez, helped Rizal
understand the philosophy
of lite and learned the value
of scholarship and
intellectual honesty.
Rizal in his childhood,
used to take long rides
through all the
surrounding country by
riding his pants that his
father gave him. Among
his pets were doves and
a dog .
Owing to the
continuous teaching of
Doña Teodora, Rizal was
persuaded to express his
feelings through verses.
He was able to write his
first poem when he was
eight years old.
The poem was
entitled "Sa Aking Mga
Kababata (To My Fellow
Children), which showed
that Rizal, even of a
young age, already had
love for his country..
Here, he similarly incorporates the
love for the native language with
Gods gift of freedom. He compared his
native language or Tagalog to Latin,
English and Spanish Tagalog, like any
other languages, had its own alphabet
and system writing, which according
to Rizal disappeared because they
Then, after Rizal’s tutor Leon
Monroy died, his parents decided to
transfer Rizal to a private school in
Biñan, Laguna. He was accompanied
by his older brother Paciano, who
acted as his second father during his
school days in Biñan. The school was
then supervised by Maestro
Rizal's first day of class
in the school was not
easy. The maestro asked
him if he knows how to
speak Latin or Spanish,
but in response, he only
knew a little of the
As a result, one of his
classmates named
Pedro, the son of the
maestro, laughed at
him. Pedro was always
bullying him that
eventually resulted to a
But knowing Rizal’s acquired
knowledge and skill in the art of
wrestling from his Tio Manuel, he
defeated Pedro. After the said
incident, Rizal became popular
in his class. Here, Rizal was able
to show his intellectual
superiority.
He excelled in his class in Latin, Spanish
and other subjects in the curriculum for
elementary pupils. Because of this, many
of the students became jealous to him
and do everything to destroy Rizal’s
name to Maestro Cruz. While Rizal’s
interest in painting was nurtured early on
by an old painter named Juancho of
During this time, knowledge was
taught in the minds of the
students by doing tedious
memorization method. Despite
some lack of the elementary
education in Spanish system,
Rizal was able to have the
needed instruction preparatory
TO MY FELLOW
CHILDREN
Whenever people of a
country truly love The
language, which by heaven
they were taught to use
That country also surely
liberty pursue As does the
bird which soars to freer
For language is the final judge
and referee Upon the people
in the land where it holds
sway, In truth our human race
resembles this way The other
living beings born in liberty.
Whoever knows not how to love his
native tongue Is worse than any
beast or evil smelling fish. To make
our language richer ought to be our
wish The same as any mother loves
to feed her young.
Tagalog and the Latin
language are the same
And English and
Castilian and the
angel's tongue; And
God, whose watchful
care o'er all is flung,
Has given us His
Our mother tongue, like
all the highest that we
know Had alphabet and
letters of its very own;
But these were lost-by
furious waves were
overthrown Like bancas
in the stormy sea, long