Reopen the Lumad schools!
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (MindaNews) -- On July 13, the order mandating the temporary shutdown of 55 Lumad schools operating under the nonprofit Salugpongan Ta’ Tanu Igkanogon Community Learning Centre Inc. in the Davao region became public.
The order was hinged on the findings of National Security Adviser Secretary Hermogenes Esperon Jr., who heads the Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict. According to the task force’s report, the closure was based on the finding that the Lumad schools deviated from the curriculum set by the Department of Education, and that the students were taught by the school officials to rebel against the government, among others.
The task force also considered a statement from Melvin Loyod, a former teacher at one of the schools, to be persuasive in the decision to order a closure. In the statement, he claimed that teaching materials included the anthem of the New People’s Army and firearm instruction. Many individuals and groups have since expressed their dissent with this decision, with Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Isagani Zarate stating that Education Secretary Leonor Briones can be filed with graft charges for arbitrarily shutting down the schools without due process.
In this article, written with my lawyer colleague Joy Reyes, I argue that such closure of Lumad schools is in violation of domestic and international laws, and that instead of closing these institutions, the government should instead provide support for their continued existence.
Lumad schools
This most recent closure is not the only instance where Lumad schools were accused of indoctrinating children. In 2017, President Duterte claimed that these Lumad schools are operating illegally and threatened to shut them down. Since then, plenty of other claims have been made against the creation and operation of these schools, which has prompted many rights groups and representatives of the communities to clamor for the saving of Lumad schools.
Situated in areas that government schools may not be able to reach because of their geographical isolation, these Lumad schools are the main sources of instruction for many of the children in the area, where literacy, numeracy, and skills are taught by mostly volunteers. The curricula of these indigenous peoples are also slightly different from those in other places because of the circumstances affecting their location and the socioeconomic realities of the communities. For this reason, in 2015, the Department of Education adopted the indigenous people (IP) education curriculum framework in order to provide guidance to schools. This was a response to the need to design a curriculum that is culturally-responsive and appropriate. Its materials are contextualized to the community and is composed of concepts that are relevant to the community, including respect for their cultural identity and ancestral domain. Such a method of instruction envisions to empower the communities and, according to then DepEd Secretary Luistro, “enable learners to be future culture-bearers, capable of exercising their right to self-determination as they interact with other cultures.”
It is for this reason that I am in support of the Lumad schools. One must also know the context of this recent decision by the DepEd and see the big picture of what this is about. TO BE CONTINUED
(Tony La Viña of Cagayan de Oro City is former Dean of the Ateneo School of Government. He teaches Constitutional law in Law schools in Manila and Mindanao)