By Alexander Villafania
PASIG CITY, METRO MANILA - An educational policy framework for indigenous groups has been formulated in an effort to strengthen the educational program for the country’s cultural minorities.
The National Indigenous Peoples Education Policy (NIPEP) was formulated to ensure provisions of quality basic education for all indigenous peoples (IP), particularly on basic and functional literacy.
It will also adopt basic education pedagogy, content, and assessment by integrating Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Practices (IKSPs). It would also adopt mother-tongue multilingual teaching for beneficiaries of the NIPEP.
The framework also calls for hiring, deployment, and continuous training of teachers and learning facilitators implementing the NIPEP. Teachers undergoing this program will be measured based on National Competency-based Teacher Standards (NCBTS).
For specific learning materials, culturally-appropriate content would be developed for NIPEP's purposes.
Moreover, the NIPEP would also teach cultural diversity and acceptance and ensure that cultural discrimination is removed. The goal is to stop negative perception and discrimination of other cultures among Filipinos.
The Department of Education (DepEd) is leading the NIPEP formulation and implementation. The agency will establish multi-level units among DepEd offices that are involved in planning, implementation and monitoring.
DepEd will also ensure that there is adequate financial support for NIPEP activities through private sector support, annual budgets, and release of local government units’ Special Education Fund (SEF).
“To ensure compliance of all concerned sectors, the DepEd shall organize consultations and dialogues as needed to periodically review the implementation of this policy framework and other policy directives and interventions that will ensue from it,” said DepEd chief Armin Luistro.
Other partners of the NIPEP are the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP), National and the Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA).
According to the 2011 Census (http://www.census.gov.ph/data/publications/2011PIF_final.pdf), there are at least 60 ethnic minorities in the Philippines. Among the largest of these are Cebuanos with at least 10 million people, followed by Ilocano with about 7 million. Bisaya or Binisaya is around 5.7 million and Hiligaynon at 5.7 million.
