Estela Cariño, Regional Director of the Department of Education – Cordillera Administrative Region (DepEd-CAR), said Cordillerans should not retaliate against other individuals in response to discriminatory acts done against them.
Shedding light on the issue of certain learning materials with contents prejudicial against Cordillerans during a session with the city council, Cariño underscored the value of respect in dealing with ethnic slurs and discriminatory acts.
Cariño explained that the DepEd-CAR tried to trace the sources of these pictures of the learning modules that have circulated on social media. It turned out that one of these learning materials made and reproduced in another region had not gone through the proper quality assurance procedure. Copies of this module were retrieved and rectified after the DepEd-CAR notified the concerned region. The said region sent a letter of apology to the DepEd-CAR thereafter.
“While it’s true that there have been [discriminatory acts done] against us, igorots, we should not do the same,” Cariño reminded. “Keep the respect. Saan tayu nga agibales (let us not retaliate).”
Cariño said that the Department of Education is taking urgent and relevant steps to ensure that the learning modules have undergone strict quality assurance measures and that the rights of all indigenous peoples are respected at all times.
To avoid committing the same blunder against other indigenous groups, Cariño stressed there is a need for every public school in the region to adhere to the set procedures in producing locally-developed learning resources.
Through a regional memorandum, Cariño has directed all schools division offices to do a thorough review on all locally-made modules and activity sheets to ensure that the said materials are compliant with certain content standards.
The memorandum stipulated that any DepEd personnel who commits lapses as regards the development, evaluation, and reproduction of learning resources which may result in the inclusion of contents inconsistent with content standards shall be subject to appropriate sanctions.
The regional director urged the city council to legislate measures that will help promote awareness about the indigenous peoples.
Prior to the forum with the DepEd-CAR, the council had passed a resolution deploring the said learning materials and another resolution requesting the DepEd to allocate annual funds for the Institutionalized Indigenous Peoples Education (IPED) and to publish materials on the culture and heritage of IPs as part of their educational materials.
In aid of legislation, the council invited the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) to join the DepEd-CAR next week for further discussion on the matter.**Jordan G. Habbiling
