THE CHILDHOOD AND

FORMAL SCHOOLING OF
RIZAL
RIZAL’S CHILDHOOD
 RIZAL’S CHILDHOOD

• According to experts, Rizal’s boyhood is typical, similar to other kids his age. From
telling stories of his crushes to experiencing beatings, Rizal was like any other boy.
Except for the fact that he was really a bright young kid.

• Since Jose Rizal nicknamed Pepe by his parents in his childhood was weak, sickly and
undersized, he was given the fondest care by his parents.

• Rizal recorded in his memoir that by nightfall, his mother would gather all the
children in their home to pray the Angelus. And by the early age of three, he started to
take a part in the family prayers.

• At 1865, Rizal’s sister’s Concha died of sickness. He later wrote in his memoir, ‘When I
was four years old, I lost my little sister Concha, and then for the first time I shed tears
caused by love and grief’ (Memories of a Student in Manila,” n.d.).
 • When he was about six years old, his sisters once laughed at him for spending much time making clay and wax
images. Initially keeping silent, he then prophetically told them “All right laugh at me now! Someday when I die,
people will make monuments and images of me.”
• From his father, the child Rizal received a pony named ‘Alipato’ as a gift. He loved to ride this pony or take long walks
in the meadows and lakeshore with his back dog named ‘Usman’.

• During Rfizal’s choldhood, Jose was also interested in magic. Other influences of Rizal’s childhood involved his three
uncles: his tio Jose Alberto who inspired him to cultivate his artistic ability; his tio Manuel who encouarged him to fortify
his frail body through physical excersises; and his tio Gregorio who intensified Rizal’s avidness to read good books.
RIZAL’S EDUCATION
 RIZAL’S EDUCATION

• Jose Rizal’s first teacher was his mother, who had taught him how to read and pray and who had
encouraged him to write poetry. Later private tutors taught the young Rizal Spanish and Latin, before
he was sent to a private school in Binan.

• At the age of five, the young Pepe learned to read Spanish family Bible, which he would refer
to later in his writings, make pencil sketches and mold in clay and wax objects which attracted
his fancy.

• When he was eleven years old, Rizal entered the Ateneo Municipal de Manila. Rizal eventually
earned a land surveyor’s and assesor’s degree from the Ateneo Municipal while taking up
Philposophy and Letters at the University of Santo Tomas.
 • Upon learning that his mother was going blind, Rizal opted to study ophthalmology at the UST
Faciulty of Medicine and Surgery.

• On May 1882, Rizal travelled to Europe. It was in Madrid that he convceived of writing Nole
Me Tangere.

• He also attended the University of Paris in 1887, completed his eye specialization course at
the University of Heidelberg. It was also in that year that Rfizal’s first novel was published in
Berlin.

• Apart from being known as poet, an essayist, and an expert in the field of medicine, Rizal has other
amazing talents worth taking note of. He knew how to paint, sketch, and make sculptures, and
became a polyglot as he can converse in 22 languages. Aside from medicine, poetry, and creative
writing, Rizal had other degrees in architecture, sociology, anthropology, fencing, martial arts, and
economics to name a few.