CITY OF TABUK, Kalinga– Education Secretary Leonor Magtolis Briones wants the soul of education alive in the curriculum and pushes for maintaining the social sciences while catching up in mathematics and science and technology.
“It is from social sciences where we can find our soul, where we know our culture, where we know that we are Filipinos; that we are Cordillerans. We can’t get our soul from math,” the Secretary said during her visit here on Thursday.
She stressed that while we pursue efforts to catch up in the fields of mathematics, engineering, genetics, technology and space science, we should maintain our soul which relates to culture, history and the arts.
She went on to recognize Filipinos winning in regional and world competitions, and those sitting in world organizations like the UN and the UNESCO. She also challenged Cordillerans to enroll at the UP Space Center.
Briones was in the province for the launching of the Contextualized IPED Curricula and Traditional Backstrap Weaving of Technical Vocational Livelihood under Home Economics.
IPED or Indigenous Peoples Education program is DepEd’s response to the right of indigenous peoples to basic education that is culture-based and culture-responsive.
She also witnessed the signing of the memorandum of agreement among the Kalinga Division Office, Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, Kalinga State University and Lubuagan local government unit for the traditional backstrap weaving curriculum for senior high school students of Lubuagan.
Training senior high school students in Lubuagan on backstrap weaving during their free time and on weekends has given impetus to the industry and is one good practice of the district giving impact on the development of cultural values. This led to the proposal to make the traditional backstrap weaving a unique specialization in Technical Vocational Livelihood for Grades 11 and 12.
A book on the Contextualized IPED Curricula which contains the indigenous knowledge, systems, and practices of the people and the community competency matrix of ages ranging from 5 years to17 years old who can enroll in Kinder to Grade 12 was handed to the Secretary.
The provincial leadership took on Sec. Briones as adopted daughter of Kalinga naming her “Guinnanayan,” the tribal queen, for her strong leadership and motherly management of the department. **JDP/PAB-PIA CAR, Kalinga
