The Philippine Department of Education or DepEd has reaffirmed its commitment to adhering to the Indigenous People’s right to basic education.
This comes at a time when DepEd joins in celebrating the National Indigenous Peoples’ month taking place this October.
Leonor Briones, the Education Secretary, affirmed the department’s devotion to ensuring that the Indigenous People (IP) communities have access to basic education.
DepEd dedicated towards 2.6 million IP learners
DepEd noted that the IP communities have a sizeable number of learners in the public school structure to the tune of 2.6 million across 31,000 schools.
As a result, DepEd cares about them; hence, it is prudent for IP learners to attain quality education.
DepEd has come up with stringent strategies of assessing what IP learners are subjected to before and after schooling. Nevertheless, DepEd has been criticized for closing Salugpongan schools located in the Davao region because of noncompliance with the set requirements.
Briones, however, defended the decision made because it was prudent in addressing the roaming challenges. One thousand (1,000) students from Salugpongan schools were affected, but they have been absorbed in nearby DepEd schools.
She also acknowledged that all children had to be given quality education and since this was not being adhered to at the Salugpongan schools. This policy ought to be followed per the constitution.
DepEd’s National Indigenous People’s Education
DepEd’s dedication towards the welfare of the marginalized group is adhered to through the National Indigenous People’s Education (IPEd) program that was initiated in 2013.
IPEd has been instrumental in strengthening the offering of culture-based education, and this has been ideal in meeting the needs of IP learners.
For instance, dialogue mechanisms have been established with IP communities, and this has instigated capacity development and personnel hiring.
On the other hand, the United States State Education Department has been witnessing a worrying trend because top officials are quitting in their droves. For instance, Beth Berlin, the Interim Commissioner, recently left, and this was after being at the helm for a short time.
