LA TRINIDAD- – The Department of Education – Cordillera launched last week “This is Home,” a book containing pioneering contributions towards a culture-based and culture-responsive education called Indigenous Peoples Education (IPED).
The book was launched in a fitting ceremony with the beating of the gong during the 2015 Basic Education Congress on October 7-9, 2015 at the DepEd-CAR Office in Wangal here attended by educators and stakeholders across the region.
The book contains the journey of IP education in the Cordillera region, according to DepEd-CAR Regional Director Ellen Donato.
“We educate our people within our home to make them the people that we want them to be… and go back to where our roots lead us,” Donato said referring to the book which contains readings on the earlier forms of education in the region and its journey to look back to that marks the identity of Cordillerans.
Donato said its chapters are labeled after the cycle followed in agriculture consistent with the DepEd-CAR roadmap.
The first chapter with subtitle “Remembering Our Home” gives an overview of the IP and how it came to be in CAR side by side with an overview of public school system in the region.
The second chapter, “Preparing the Fields”, underscores efforts undertaken in the early years in the Cordillera region since 1988, its legal basis of creation, the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA ) promulgation, Education for All among others.
The third chapter, “Sowing the Seeds”, includes forwarding responsive education with the region being recipient of Philippines’ Response to Indigenous Peoples’ and Muslim Education (PRIME) which initially included four divisions namely Ifugao, Mountain Province, Kalinga, and Apayao, and issuance of the IP Policy Framework and national roll out of Learning Resource Management and Development System (LRMDS) to come up with instructional materials suited for the region.
The fourth chapter dubbed, “Planting the Seeds”, incorporates the region’s undertakings such as immersion with IP communities from north to southern part of the country, piloting of LRMDS, inclusion of other divisions as recipients of PRIME namely Baguio, Abra, Benguet and Tabuk City.
The fifth and final chapter, “Nurturing the Rice Fields”, features write ups on understanding more the IP such as setting in place the processes in IPED contextualized in K-12, presentation of regional policies on IPED, activities that support the council of elders that gave birth to the first Regional Basic Education Congress in 2013 , a venue which dished out the cultural dimensions of K-12.
Copies of the book will be turned over to the children and the community and hopefully find place in the libraries, added Donato./JDP/SCA-PIA-CAR, Benguet
