THE DEPARTMENT of Education (DepEd) in Region 12 (Soccsksargen) has strengthened its indigenous peoples' education (IPEd) program to help counter the influence of the communist-led New People’s Army (NPA).
Dr. Carlito Rocafort, DepEd-Region 12 director, said on Wednesday they have expanded their linkages with concerned stakeholders to ensure the continuous learning of IP learners even amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
He said among the program’s focal areas are IP schools in this city and Sarangani province, especially those in remote areas.
Rocafort said it is important to properly educate the IP learners so they will not be influenced by the NPA and its ideology.
DepEd’s IPEd program seeks to promote the rights of IPs and their communities, as well as preserve their identity and culture.
“That is DepEd’s contribution (in the efforts to stop) the NPA infiltration in our far-flung communities,” he told reporters.
The local government and private groups here have been providing support to the program in 11 IP schools, which are in communities with the Blaan tribal residents.
In Sarangani province, some 180 of the 320 public schools in the area are serving over 60,000 IP learners.
DepEd’s culture-responsive education approach focuses on the contextualization of lesson plans for IP learners, use of the local language for teaching, having elders as teachers and mentors, and using the ancestral domain as the classroom.
It has been hiring more IP teachers and delivering the necessary facilities to improve the learning delivery in the concerned schools.
Rocafort said the rollout of the IPEd program in the region has mainly helped offset NPA influence in some parts of North Cotabato.
He said reports from Army units and the local task forces to end local communist armed conflict cited that the NPA infiltration in IP schools in North Cotabato is now controlled.
“But our division offices are continuously working to further enhance and expand the reach of these programs,” he said.
Hundreds of IPs from parts of the region who were recruited to join the NPA have surrendered to government authorities in the past several years.
Some of them admitted to being lured into joining the communist terrorist group due to the lack of proper education and false promises from its leaders.
The Communist Party of the Philippines-NPA is listed as a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the Philippines. ( Richelyn Gubalani)
