The government is urged to ensure IP students access to culture-based education

MANILA – As the country celebrates Indigenous Peoples’ Month (IP) in October, a group has called on the government to ensure that students from indigenous communities have access to culture-based education.

Despite laws guaranteeing the rights of indigenous groups, access to education for IP students remains difficult, said E-Net Philippines, a network of civil society groups advocating for education reforms.

“This includes maintaining their own schools and conducting their own educational activities and using or teaching their own language,” the group said in a statement last Friday.

E-Net Philippines called on the government to increase funding for Indigenous Peoples’ National Education Department (IPED) programs and establish community learning centers in 100 identified IP communities without access to public schools.

In the Bangsamoro region, for example, 45,508 PI children do not have access to schools, said Bae Jennifer “Limpayen” Sibug-las, commissioner for Central Mindanao of the National Indigenous Peoples Commission.

DepEd should also hire, train and deploy IP teachers in community schools, and enlist IP leaders as specialists in writing IP learning materials and curricula, added E-Net Philippines.

Maria Lourie Victor, a consultant for the DepEd’s IP education office, said that since 2017, the IPED program has served 121,250 IP students and recruited and trained 2,177 teachers, mostly members of indigenous communities, in education. based on culture.

Distance education

Citing a report it received, E-Net Philippines said that around 5,500 Lumad students did not enroll this school year, which saw the country’s education system shift to distance learning as face-to-face classes remain banned due to the pandemic.

The Lumads were unable to enroll due to lack of access to devices, electricity and the internet, while some modules were deemed inappropriate for the students’ culture, according to the report.

Victor said that DepEd is still monitoring the number of IPs who did not enroll in public schools this year. Public schools will continue to accept late enrollment through November.

“We believe that modular learning remains the best mode of education during this time of pandemic, given [that] IP communities are very remote and online classes are difficult for them, ”he said, referring to the distance learning modality where students learn through printed or digital modules.

Victor admitted that the pandemic derailed DepEd’s programs for PI students this year, but the agency continues to study how it could reach these students.

Schools with red label

Victor also regretted that some IP schools were “labeled red” or labeled “communist hotbed”.

The representative from DepEd noted that the agency was providing training in “education for peace” to schools in conflict-affected areas.

“It is important that teachers are oriented on the topic of the peace talks and that the school and the IP communities have a strong relationship,” said Victor.

Earlier this month, the head of the Philippine Armed Forces, Gen. Gilbert Gapay, said the military was monitoring madrasa or Islamic schools for possible recruitment of suicide bombers.

Last year, DepEd came under fire after it closed 55 Lumad schools in Mindanao for failing to comply with department regulations. At the time, the National Security Council reported that the closed schools had ties to communist rebels.

National Indigenous Peoples Month is celebrated every October by virtue of Proclamation No. 1906, issued in 2009 by former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

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