Indigenous People’s Education
A Research Paper about the Talaandig Tribe of Sungco, Lantapan, Bukidnon
INTRODUCTION
Neslon Mandela once said that right to education is internationally and globally recognized to
bring about changes in the world and among individuals. It is a right vested not only to those
who have the means to afford good education but to anyone. Any person has this right regardless
of the religion or language, social status, whatever the color of the skin, political inclinations and
economic condition. According to Freire (2000), the enjoyment of the exercise of the right to
education is a step toward total human liberation. However, being a present phenomenon,
education in the Philippines is confronted with a challenge even from its initial phase –
accessibility. Availability of education is given but its accessibility is another thing, an evident
scenario for the oppressed ones, the minority groups in the country – the Indigenous People(IP)/
Indigenous Cultural Communities (ICC).
Philippines is composed of thousands of islands. With its archipelagic characteristics, it is a
country with diverse cultures such that an estimated 14 to 17 million of its people are Indigenous
Peoples belonging to 110 ethno-linguistic groups, which includes the Talaandig tribe of Sungco,
Lantapan, Bukidnon.
Short Description of Talaandig.
Unfortunately, historical accounts show that Indigenous Peoples in the Philippines have long
been suffering from discrimination and lack of access to education. As stated by Eduardo and
Gabriel in their study entitled Indigenous People and their Right to Education: The Dumagat
Experience, this is brought about by the Philippine educational system’s neo-colonial
background that creates injustice on some cultural minorities who can attend school. Indigenous
education has been a phenomenon for decades now. Legislation supporting them were authored
internationally and locally but whether or not enough to address the present challenges
confronting the Indigenous Education in the Philippines, is a question yet to be answered.
INTERNATIONAL LAWS ON INDIGENOUS PEOPLE’S EDUCATION
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in December
1960 sponsored the Convention Against Discrimination in Education purposely to eliminate and
prevent discrimination in Education.
The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) regenerated the
rights of Indigenous Peoples’ (IPs) scholarship, which covers the Declaration’s scope,
applicability, and implication on national law on Indigenous rights (Mansell, 2011; Newcomb,
2011; Wiessner, 2008).
When referring to Education, the term Indigenous generally pertains to the first or original
inhabitants of a later colonized group by a group of powerful people who imposed their own
culture and language on the original inhabitants (Reyhner & Singh, 2015).
According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
(2003), ‘Local and indigenous knowledge’ refers to the cumulative and complex bodies of
knowledge, know-how, practices and representations that are maintained and developed by
peoples with extended histories of interactions with the natural environment.
These cognitive systems are part of a complex that also includes language, attachment to place,
spirituality and worldview.
UNESCO says that these many terms coexist because the wide range of social, political and
scientific contexts have made it all but impossible to for a single term to be suitable in all
circumstances.
UNESCO has recognized the importance of Indigenous Knowledge Systems, that it launched the
Local Indigenous Knowledge Systems (LINKS) Project in 2002. As a cross-cutting intersectoral
project, LINKS brings together all five programme sectors of UNESCO in a collaborative effort
on local and indigenous knowledge.
The LINKS Project focuses on this interface between local & indigenous knowledge and the
Millennium Development Goals of poverty eradication and environmental sustainability. It
addresses the different ways that indigenous knowledge, practices and worldviews are drawn
into development and resource management processes. It also considers the implications this
may have for building equity in governance, enhancing cultural pluralism and sustaining
biodiversity (UNESCO 2003).
Local and indigenous knowledge includes the sophisticated understandings, interpretations and
meanings that are accumulated and developed by peoples having extended histories of
interaction with the natural environment (UNESCO 2003: 1).
For the vast majority of rural and indigenous peoples these knowledge systems provide the basis
for local-level decision-making about fundamental aspects of day- to-day life (economic, social,
cultural, ecological). Indigenous knowledge is also one of the key action themes identified by
UNESCO in the UN Decade for Education for Sustainable Development (2005-2014).
This historical definition of “indigenous” prompted institutions to implement policies that will
protect the rights of IPs and ensure that their culture and traditions are preserved. The integrity of
this protection, however, at times, remains to be questionable as they are constantly challenged
by adapting to mainstream culture.
PHILIPPINE LAWS ON IPs EDUCATION
The right to education of IPs/Indigenous Cultural Communities (ICCs) is also promoted and
protected in the Philippines. Numerous laws, statutes, and policies were forged to make
Education accessible to vulnerable groups such as the IPs. This indicates that the Philippines is
aware of the needs of its marginalized communities and are creating policies that are responsive
to it, especially in the aspect of social rights, with the right to Education being among it.
(Eduardo and Gabriel, 2021)
The country has more than 110 ethnic tribes and cultural communities whose cultures and
traditions are in varying states of extinction. These vanishing ancestral traditions and customary
laws used to define social relationships and values and promoted efficiency of economic
activities.
Unfortunately, as stated in the study of Abejuela (2004), environmentally devastating socio-
economic ventures, large-scale indiscriminate mining and industrial logging have brought
incalculable damage to their primary source of livelihood and cultural sanctuary. The consequent
destruction of their environment resulted in the further degradation of ancestral cultures which
are largely shaped by the indigenous people's interaction with the natural elements.
This resulting loss of their cultural identities, coupled with the devastation of their environment,
have resulted in the serious economic displacement and cultural disempowerment of these
communities. Tribal communities in various geographical areas are thus among the most
impoverished and marginalized sectors of Philippine society (ACPC 2005).
Gabriel and Mangahas (2017) cited the findings of McLean (2010) that the Philippines is among
the first countries in Asia that recognized the distinction of IPs and the state of their existence.
Such recognition was provided in the 1935 and 1973 Constitution of the Republic of the
Philippines in the form of “integration” to the mainstream which later on was transformed into
“recognition” upon the ratification of 1987 Philippine Constitution. It specifies that the State
should include among its concerns the promotion of social justice, and that it should also
safeguard the well-being of the people and their economic security. Similarly, the 1973
Philippine Constitution considered, the interests of cultural minorities in state policies (Mc
Lean,2010).
The issuance of Presidential Decree No. 1414 provides protection to IPs who wish to be part of
the Philippine society mainstream, at the same time it allows those who would maintain its
culture and tradition to separate from the majority, a sort of exception to the “equal protection
clause” or integration policy of the state (Fernandez, 1983).
Though the Philippine republic has been in existence for more than 100 years, it has only been
since the late 1980s and the 1990s that the government sought to address the plight of the
indigenous peoples.
The present constitution, which was written in 1987, in Article XIV Sec 1 states:
“The State shall protect and promote the right of all citizens to quality education at all levels, and
shall take appropriate steps to make such education accessible to all.”
Furthermore, Sec 17 also reads:
“The State shall recognize, respect, and protect the rights of indigenous cultural communities to
preserve and develop their cultures, traditions, and institutions. It shall consider these rights in
the formulation of national plans and policies.”
Article XIV Section 1 of the 1987 Philippine Constitution which provides that the
The State shall protect and promote the right of all citizens to quality education at all levels and
shall take appropriate steps to make such education accessible to all.
Likewise, Article XIV Section 18 (1) provides that
The State shall ensure equal access to cultural opportunities through the educational system,
public or private cultural entities, scholarships, grants and other incentives, and community
cultural centers, and other public venues.
However, the absence alone of an accessible education facility near ICCs and the serious need
for teachers that can connect through the Indigenous language points to the poor implementation
of the constitutional provisions for IPs in terms of Education.
These mandates were unfortunately not supported by specific legislation or policies. It was not
until the 1990s that further legislation was authored to protect the rights of the indigenous
peoples.
In October 1997, then President Fidel V. Ramos signed into law Republic Act 8371 - the
Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act (IPRA). This legislation lays down the legal framework for
addressing indigenous peoples’ poverty. It seeks to alleviate the plight of the country’s “poorest
of the poor” by correcting, through legislation, the historical errors that led to the systematic
dispossession of and discrimination against the indigenous peoples. The IPRA law enforces the
1987 Constitution’s mandate that the State should craft a policy “to recognize and promote the
rights of indigenous peoples within the framework of national unity and development” and “to
protect the rights of indigenous cultural communities to their ancestral lands to ensure their
economic, social and cultural well-being” (Asian Development Bank 2002: 13).
The IPRA law also serves as the basis for the establishment of indigenous schools. Section 28 of
the IPRA law states:
“The State shall, through the National Commission on Indigenous People (NCIP), provide a
complete, adequate and integrated system of education, relevant to the needs of the children and
young people of ICCs/IPs.”
Section 30 further states:
“The State shall provide equal access to various cultural opportunities to the ICCs/IPs through
the educational system, public or cultural entities, scholarships, grants and other incentives
without prejudice to their right to establish and control their educational systems and institutions
by providing education in their own language, in a manner appropriate to their cultural methods
of teaching and learning. Indigenous children/youth shall have the right to all levels and forms of
education of the State.”
However, even with these recent legislation on indigenous peoples and indigenous rights, there
remains very few indigenous schools in the country. In the Philippines, education is divided into
formal and non-formal education. The formal sector is further divided into three levels: primary,
secondary and tertiary. Each can be private or public. Ever since the Americans established the
public school system in the country, no efforts were done on establishing schools that utilized
indigenous knowledge. In fact, it was required in all schools that the American system be used –
language and all. All Filipinos were required to learn only in English. It was only in the past 20
years that Filipino has been reintroduced as a language of instruction in schools, though English
still has preference. Native regional languages have never been encouraged, much less those of
the indigenous peoples. Only a handful of indigenous schools are in existence, all of them due
solely on the efforts of the tribal elders, often with very minimal support from the government –
if any. (Abejuela, 2004)
In the same study entitled A Case Study of the Sagu-Ilaw School of Indigenous Knowledge and
Tradition by Abejuela, the following points have been pointed out:
Schools for Indigenous Knowledge and Traditions
Among the organizations in the country that promoted indigenous learning is the Asian Council
for People’s Culture (ACPC). It was ACPC that came up with the SIKAT Programme. SIKAT is
the Filipino word for ‘rising’ and at the same time the acronym for ‘Schools for Indigenous
Knowledge and Traditions’. The combination of both meanings expresses well what the SIKAT
programme is all about. It envisions a system at par with mainstream education, founded on the
ways of life, traditions and culture of indigenous peoples, as a stepping stone to promote sincere
development of the communities (Meneses 2004:1).
The idea for the development of a culturally-responsive education was first expressed in 1999 by
several of the indigenous leaders present in one of ACPC’s trainings.
ACPC decided to facilitate the building of a national network of indigenous community
educators who would develop and promote a dynamic and culturally responsive curriculum for
indigenous communities. This inter-tribal council of elders launched the movement for the
promotion of indigenous education. They then put forth a document – the Kalinga Declaration –
which envisions:
"Indigenous education founded on the lifeways, traditions, worldview, culture and spirituality of
the native community is a basic right of all indigenous people. It is a pathway of education that
recognizes wisdom embedded in indigenous knowledge." (ACPC 2004)
Since the Kalinga Declaration, ACPC facilitated teacher trainings, curriculum development
workshops, tribal leaders’ forum and other activities to prepare the communities and their
indigenous teachers for the establishment of their Schools for Indigenous Knowledge and
Traditions.
According to Meneses (2004:2), the basic principles of SIKAT are:
1. Ownership - SIKAT is an idea that originated from the indigenous people themselves, the
concept and the results of its implementation are therefore also owned by them. Important
decisions are made by the SIKAT Council of Elders, consisting of 15 elected members of
different tribes nationwide.
2. Emancipation – The SIKAT-program is about indigenous people defining, developing and
implementing their own education; content, inputs in curricula, lesson plans, and manuals come
from the indigenous people involved in the SIKAT- program.
3. Cultural Diversity – While globalisation brings along many positive consequences and
possibilities, it also brings the danger of cultural homogenisation. The SIKAT- program offers
indigenous people a chance to revitalize their culture giving indigenous people the chance to
contribute to society and suggest innovations based upon their perspectives. The cultural variety
among indigenous communities offers indigenous people, from remote areas, to meet for an
enriching inter-tribal interaction.
4. Environmental Sustainability – indigenous worldviews are in many ways holistic. For one
thing, indigenous people have expressed their survival to be inherently connected to their natural
environment not only on a material level, but also on a spiritual level. Indigenous communities’
environment carries the soul of their ancestors, of their identity. The concept of ancestral domain
and environmental sustainability urgently needed to safeguard this ancestral domain has a central
place in the SIKAT curriculum.
5. Community-Centred – Local representatives who are immersed in trainings like developing
curriculum are the ones expected to eventually teach and sustain their respective community
SIKAT school.
6. Rooted in Day to Day Reality – one reason for indigenous people to want to establish
culturally responsive education is the experience that what children learn in
mainstream schools is often not relevant in their day-to-day lives. Handbooks, curricula in
mainstream education are highly westernised. Many indigenous children even become
indifferent of their cultural background. The high drop out rate among indigenous students can
be attributed to a school calendar that does not take into account the planting and harvesting
season vital to many indigenous communities. SIKAT wants to develop a relevant curriculum to
equip them with skills, knowledge and values to help contribute to society, and take pride in their
indigenous identity, instead of being uncomfortable about it.
7. Recognition – SIKAT-participants often express aversion to be called para- teachers, or their
education to be categorized as non-formal education. Through this they want to express that
indigenous education should be recognized as quality basic education for their children, and not
a form of additional education, just because it is different from mainstream education. Therefore
advocacy and lobbying with the government, especially the Department of Education is an
important point of attention.
As can be observed, the SIKAT schools are implementing what UNESCO has only recently
recognized: that the recognition of local and indigenous knowledge transforms the relationship of
biodiversity managers to local communities. Rather than mere resource users whose practices
must be managed, local people are recognized as knowledge holders in their own right with their
own ecological understandings, conservation practices and visions of how resource management
goals should be defined and attained (UNESCO 2003: 5). This is among the central tenets of
indigenous education in the SIKAT schools.
IP EDUCATION PROGRAM
Further in the study conducted by Alingasa entitled Integration of the Indigenous Peoples
Education(IPEd), learning the culture of IP is a social process. It was believed that the
knowledge and awareness of IP children about IP culture, and practices, rights and privileges
should have been developed through their interaction with their parents and elders in the
community, or before they were schooled. On the other hand, there is a potential for knowledge
development among the IP children through the help of more knowledgeable adults such as
teachers. In school, teachers transmit knowledge and information to the children, where they may
learn various aspects of their culture.
A new innovation in the educational system was introduced almost a decade ago: the Indigenous
Peoples Education. The program mandates that teachers adopt appropriate basic education
pedagogy, content and assessment through the integration of IP knowledge, systems and
practices in all learning areas and processes by incorporating the IKSPs in all subject areas,
including the alternative learning schemes. Teachers are directed to design learning strategies
and processes to facilitate meaningful learning for students. The teachers’ goal is to support the
learners’ growth and motivational needs in learning indigenous knowledge, systems, practices
and skills.
Then, after series of consultations with IP community elders, leaders and implementers of
community-based Indigenous Peoples Education (IPEd) initiatives, the Department of Education
adopted the Indigenous Peoples Education Curriculum Framework (DepEd Order No. 32, s.
2015) in recognition of the right of indigenous peoples to culturally rooted and responsive basic
education. In line with the National Indigenous Peoples Education Policy Framework in DepEd
Order No. 62, s. 2011, the IP Education Program is also the Department of Education’s response
to its commitment to achieve the Education for All (EFA) 2015 targets, the Millenium
Development Goals (MDGs) and the right of IP communities to have an education that is
responsive to their context, respects their identities, and promotes the value of their indigenous
knowledge, skills and other aspects of their cultural heritage. It also aims to improve the
appropriateness and responsiveness of the curriculum, build the capacity of teachers, managers
and concerned personnel, support the development of culturally appropriate learning resources
and learning environment, and strengthen the policy environment supportive of IPEd (DepEd
Order 26, s. 2013). IPEd was then enhanced to provide guidance to schools and other education
programs as they engage with indigenous communities in contextualizing the K to 12
Curriculum based on their respective educational and social contexts. The implementation of
Mother Tounge-based Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE) among indigenous learners aimed to
generate and enrich Indigenous Knowledge, Systems and Practices (IKSPs) and Indigenous
Learning Systems (ILS) (DepEd, 2015) as found in the same study of Alingasa.
This aspiration of the Department of Education for the Indigenous Peoples in the country
is very valuable. However, it has been observed that many teachers, including the elementary
school teachers, whose pupils are all identified as IPs, are not prepared of providing accurate
information and proper knowledge to their pupils. These teachers are not aware and not properly
equipped with strategies in teaching IKSPs and ILs of Talaandig Tribe.
National Indigenous Peoples Education Policy Framework mandates that schools and
teachers in basic education adopt appropriate basic education pedagogy, content, and assessment
through the integration of Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Practices (IKSPs) in all learning
areas and processes by implementing the following in schools, learning centers and other
learning services with enrolled IP learners: a) mother tongue-based multilingual education
(MTB-MLE); b) culture-responsive education for sustainable development and c) alternative
modes of instructional delivery and assessment schemes to address the peculiar needs of IP
learners.
Pursuant to the K to 12 Program, Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE) is
required to be used as a medium of instruction and as a subject in Grade I to III (Deped Order 21,
s. 2010); thus teachers are obliged to teach the subject. These teachers are handling Kinder,
Grade I, Grade II and Grade III classes, where teaching Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual
Education (MTB-MLE) is required and subjects such as Araling Panlipunan III and Araling
Panlipunan VI classes. In other learning areas or subjects, IP concepts were not integrated in the
mainstream lessons. Other teachers, however, introduce IP culture and practices during co-
curricular activities like the school IP Day.
In a paper of Fatima Tsav, in Academia, she observed that in the Philippines, in the mainstream
educational systems when indigenous traditional life and being is discussed, some tendencies of
misinterpretation and misrepresentation happen because of the prevailing prejudice, Indigenous
knowledge and skills are discussed as inferior than modern knowledge and skill. Discussions on
the culture of IPs were limited to surface culture that highlights artifacts and practices, such as
songs, clothes, dances, beliefs and traditions. This give limited and shallow understanding of IPs
as a people, their culture as a process and their identity as one that includes the cultural heritage
and history of a community.
However, in reality, when teachers were asked about the problems they experienced in
implementing IP Education, the following were revealed: teachers have limited ideas in
integrating IP concepts in their classes; there is less appreciation of superiors on the capacity of
teachers; and shift of values of the present generation of children.
CUSTOMARY LAWS ON IPs EDUCATION
In the consolidated report by the episcopal commission on Indigenous Peoples about Indigenous
Peoples Education: “From Alienation to Rootedness”, the Indigenous Peoples Education System
during the 2nd national IP education Convention in May 2007, the reports on key findings of
case studies done in four areas in the country significantly articulated what the indigenous
education system was. The following are the key points shared so far: Indigenous communities
have a system of education each tribe in the country has a system that started since time
immemorial of trans- mitting knowledge and forming the youth to become responsible human
beings. This view is similar to the modern concept of “education,” a word derived from the latin
word educare meaning ‘bringing up or rearing’ (Frankena, 2003). This also relates to the
international concept of indigenous knowledge systems and practices (IKSPs), the system of
knowledge generation, storage, transmission, and evaluation being kept alive by indigenous
communities in different parts of the world. These knowledge and ways of knowing are nurtured
and acquired through centuries of living with the ancestral domain. As one Hopi elder (USA) put
it:
People always ask,‘So where do you get your knowledge?’ and I say, ‘From the ancestors, from
the time of creation.’- Hopi elder, 1993 (Survival, 1994)
The ancestral domain – school of indigenous communities
where was their school? elders say that learning is anywhere - the home, the fields, the rivers,
during walks, hunting, planting, etc.
Learning is everywhere and at every moment.
The learning space is the ancestral do- main.
This similar to the ‘lifelong learning’ concept in education circles today. This indigenous
education system that has been practiced for centuries has to be recalled by indigenous
communities.
In some tribes, learning venues or institutions are also present like the dap-ay (for males) and
ulog (for females). These are venues for youth to gather and, in interaction with the elders, learn
about community dynamics and practices (Fiag-oy, 2005; Al- angui, 1997).
The sources of knowledge and wisdom
who taught our ancestors? The elders say that anyone is a possible source of knowledge and
companion in the learning process - parents, grandparents, elders who have recognized expertise,
even peers, and younger children.what is passed on from one generation to the next is usually
called traditional knowledge (Castellano, 2000 cited in Stein- hauer, 2002). Perhaps if there is
one teacher unique to indigenous peoples, it is the ancestral domain or creation. elders speak of
particular creatures ‘telling us’ or ‘teaching us’. Another unique ‘teacher’ would be dreams, with
some tribes learning their weaving designs, medicinal plants and other knowledge through
dreams (Fiag-oy, 2005; Peterno, Alvina & Javellana, 2000). dreams as a kind of ‘teacher’ is also
called revealed knowledge (Steinhauer, 2002). It is unfortunate that today, these types of
knowledge have been labeled as superstitions.
Indigenous Peoples have a curriculum too
The indigenous peoples have a sequence of content and competencies to be taught based on the
stage of growth of the person.
Indigenous education therefore has a curriculum, which varies depending on the situation of the
tribe.
Indigenous books and knowledge storage system
The elders are the repository of knowledge. Their memory is the library of indigenous
communities. elders say that knowledge is also stored in songs, chants, dances, rituals, and day-
to-day activities of the tribe. One elder stressed that day-to-day living and the cycle of life of the
community was the ultimate repository of knowledge, for it was in living the knowledge that its
remembrance and storage were ensured.
Another repository of knowledge is called cellular memory (Steinhauer, 2002). One example is
the competency, which evolved through the centuries of making rice terraces, of indigenous
communities of the
Cordillera mountains (in northern Philip- pines) to work with rocks, mountains and soil. This is a
natural competency among the members of the indigenous community that cannot be taught in
any Master’s or Phd course anywhere in the world. It can only be learned by being part of the
ancestry (blood) and living in and working in the ancestral domain so that this competency
(which includes psycho-emotional components) is nurtured and practiced.
Evaluating learning – Indigenous Peoples have exams too
The elders see application of knowledge as the test in itself, with the outcome being the indicator
of degree of knowledge gained. depending on the tribe, there are indicators of mastery. The part
of the body hit by a trap, for example, shows how skillful a Mangyan hunter is in making the
trap. Another indicator of learning was the capacity to teach others. Some tribes have titles for
the experts in their communities equivalent to today’s Master’s and Phd degrees.
Indigenous Peoples education philosophy
The tribe’s worldview guides the whole process of learning the IKSPs of the com- munity.
A worldview is “a unified vision rather than an individual idea.” (Redfield, 1982, cited in
Steinhauer, 2002). Below are the words of Macli-ing dulag, a Kalinga tribal elder killed in the
early 1980s as he led his community in its opposition to the building of the Chico dam in
northern Philippines. These few poetic lines articulate the deep meanings of his tribe’s reason for
being:
Afo Kafunian, lord of us all, gave us lifeand placed us in the world to live human lives.And
where shall we obtain life? From the land.
To work the land is an obligation, not merely a right.In tilling the land, you possess it.And so,
land is a grace that must be nurtured.
To enrich it is the eternal exhortation of Afo Kafunian to all Kafunian’s children.land is sacred.
land is beloved.From its womb springs our Kalinga life. (Anno, 2003)
That land is life and is sacred is fundamental to their worldview, and this permeates their IKSPs
where the ancestral domain is classroom and teacher at the same time, and nurturing and
protecting the ancestral domain is a fundamental tenet in molding the young.
Teaching-learning strategies
Among tribes, there are some common teaching-learning strategies such as demonstration, actual
activity, apprenticeship (for specialized roles like healers and shamans), and direct instruction.
ALL ABOUT TALAANDIG TRIBE’S EDUCATION AND SCHOOL FOR LIVING
TRADITIONS
“The transmission of traditions is done whenever there is opportunity to do so. But when the
pandemic hit, this opportunity slowly begins to slip away from our grasp.”, these are the very
words of Datu Vic Migkitay, the tribal leader of Talaandig.
The mothers in the tribe are considered as the first teachers. It is the duty of the mother to
educate their children especially about the culture of the tribe. According to Datu Vic, it is very
important for them to teach the young ones all about cultural heritage and values. This cultural
heritage covers the relationship among all the members of the tribe, relationship with the society
and relationship with the nature. The teachings are not being imposed on every child in the child.
Traditions are being transmitted to the children whenever there is an opportunity to do so. This
means that there is no classroom set-up required in order to pass on and teach the children about
the traditions of the tribe. The tribe has designated a Bagnanaot or teacher for each field; a
storyteller, artist, hunter, farmer, carpenter, chanter, musicians, among others. Whenever there is
opportunity for storyteller to tell stories, they do so and pass it on to the children who are
interested to learn about it as they listen to the storyteller. Whenever there is an opportunity for
chanters to chant, they do so and pass it on to the children as listeners.
Education in the tribe is not confined in the classroom set up. Life lessons are passed down every
day and are not limited. They believe that there is always something new to learn every single
day. The tribe gives so much importance to education, trainings, values, and experiences. They
teach and train children about farming or agriculture, hunting, natural medicines and healing,
carpentry, storytelling, chanting, playing musical instruments, dancing, and soil painting among
others. For them, customary education is more like a calling for oneself. Language of the tribe
plays an important role also in their education. They believe that the transmission of their culture
to the children is done through the help of the native language of the tribe. The problem now is
that the language of the tribe is hardly being taught to the children since even the parents are now
using the Bisaya dialect to communicate. Only a few in the tribe fluently speaks the native
language, most of the children only know how to speak Bisaya. Due to this language barrier, the
Bagnanaots struggle to pass on the traditions to the children. Worse, some of the Bagnanaots die
due to old age without having been able to pass on their expertise to the young ones.
Not until the School for Living Traditions was formed. This school of the Talaandig tribe located
inside their premise is considered as a space for cultural masters and children who want to learn.
This school started off well and was supported and featured by the different organizations
outside the tribe. As a practice, cultural education from toddler age up to 6 years old, before the
children are enrolled for primary education. However, when the pandemic hit, the school also
stopped functioning. Datu Vic admitted that the school really needs development and more
support for it to be sustained. As of now, they are reaching out to the office of the province, some
senators and congressmen to find support for the development of the School.
CONCLUSION
As cited by Alingasa, the development of education system is the outcome of long and tedious
processes. To make education more meaningful, purposeful and consequential, culture is
important; for without integrating cultural components and local knowledge base in education, it
would only become a ritual and fruitless. Thus, extensive research and documentation of IP
culture is needed for the establishment of local knowledge base and formulation of local theories
(Janetius, et al., 2012).
Based on the study conducted, the following suggestions were given for the improvement of the
Indigenous Peoples’ Education Program in Philippines: conduct of more training in IP
Education; provision of learning materials on IPEd; use of available media and technology to
supplement teaching strategies; retrieval or recording of IP literature from culture bearers or
elders; and creation of school for living traditions.
Reinforcing these ideas are the suggestions in the thematic paper on Education and Indigenous
Peoples: Priorities for Inclusive Education by the Inter-agency Support Group on Indigenous
Peoples’ Issues of the United Nations. It was suggested that formal education should not only
teach about the outside world, but also support and value traditional knowledge, culture,
livelihoods, world views and pedagogical methods. This can be achieved by establishing
infrastructure, developing curricula and tailoring the pedagogical materials to the unique needs
of indigenous learners, communities and people. A focus should also be given to capacity-
building for teachers, so they are equipped with knowledge and strategies so they will be
prepared for and understand the importance of involving the community in formal education.
The Schools for Living Tradition (SLT), on the other hand, is one where a living master, culture
bearer or culture specialist teachers skills and techniques of doing a traditional art or craft. There
are practical demonstrations and oral learning here. Specifically, the program aims to identify
aspects or components of traditional culture and art considered to be important to a cultural
community that should be imparted to the young so that these aspects can be perpetuated.
(National Commission for Culture and the Arts, 2015).
Lastly, the study of Aligaen, et al. conducted in Seven Cities, Alimodian, Iloilo in 2015 also
suggested that multimedia technologies can greatly assist the preservation of culture and
traditions. Using various media, people can preserve IP culture, traditions and rituals such as
Sinulog, to enhance the cultural knowledge in socially responsible and sustainable ways to
provide access for future generation. Teachers can use these media as aid in teaching IP concepts
in the classroom.
As Michel de Certeau, SJ (1966) has expressed, “A culture is a language of a spiritual
experience.”
Sometimes we ask, what is so important about culture? why should we, like our indigenous
sisters and brothers, be so assertive about it? It is not just because of its aesthetic value, or its
uniqueness or the economics of it. Culture is at the core of being human, an expression of how
we have encountered God through life- questions. It contains the blessings or graces of God to a
people which, if nurtured well, make us able to share these blessings and graces with each other.
In the case of our indigenous brothers and sisters, they have shared their blessings with us but
were abused, neglected and ridiculed in return.
we hope to continue journeying with our indigenous brothers and sisters as they articulate and
define an education system that will once again nurture their tribe, communities and culture,
before it is too late.
Indigenous knowledge and learning systems have long been recognized as indispensable
component of indigenous peoples’ education, but the formal education system usually neglected
this indigenous knowledge (Senauth, 2012). Many students in the country, for example, study
foreign literatures such as Shakespeare, Game of Thrones and Harry Potter but remain ignorant
of their own epic like Hinalawod. Many students mastered the Pythagorean Theorem, Euclidian
Geometry and other Mathematical Theories but do not know their ancestor’s process of counting
and solving complex problems. Worst happens when no more children are willing to learn
indigenous knowledge because even their teachers in school do not know how to teach them.
Implicitly, the observation of Dupere (2016) is correct in suggesting that “the devaluing of
Indigenous teachings and low graduation, and enrollment rates” are among the five educational
challenges that Indigenous children are faced with globally.
It is worth noting how important Education is to IPs and ICCs. The statement of Atleo (2012) is
correct that “Education is the key to aboriginal potential. Education remains a determinant of
social and economic health and creates key links to our other priorities: governing capacity and
sustainable economic development.” As more IPs are educated, the more they can appropriately
govern in their communities, using systems that can preserve their culture and traditions while
achieving economic development.
Education is a tool for enfranchisement and self-determination which the mainstream
postcolonial educational philosophy in the Philippines fails to provide (Romero, 2020) but at the
same time could be used as a means to promote, protect, and maintain Igorot Indigenous culture
(Adonis & Couch, 2017).
Only by ensuring the IPs and ICCs receive Education that respects their uniqueness and caters to
their special needs to change their dire situation can they flourish as a people and as a
community that can walk with equal confidence as with mainstream society.
