Vice President Maria Leonor Robredo on Monday batted for the strengthening of education as a means to uplifting the general condition of indigenous peoples nationwide.
The Vice President underscored this at the ongoing “Gracing the LEAP V: 2017 National Indigenous Peoples Education” festival at the University of Southeastern Philippines, Mintal Campus. The festival ends on May 17.
Robredo encouraged IP leaders and educators to value the role of education in uplifting the IPs in the Philippines, saying it plays a vital role in helping the voices of indigenous people to be heard.
“Progress requires us to embrace innovation—to welcome the unfamiliar and to adapt to it. Kung hindi po natin gagawin ang mga iyan ay baka mapag-iwanan tayo ng mundo,” she stressed.
“But members of our IP communities, especially the young ones need to value their roots and preserve their unique traditions some of which are ill-matched with modern-living,” she added.
VP Leni also addressed IP educators that education is the best way to find the balancing act between heritage and progress and between tradition and modernity.
“Each and every time you devote your skill and time to your students, you are helping to shape the minds of future leaders who can bridge tradition and progress. These leaders will bear the wisdom of cultural heritage, as well as use that wisdom for our people’s good.”
Furthermore, the vice president said that through education, the IPs would be empowered because they would have a better understanding of the existing laws, especially those crafted to protect them and those that are used against them.
The Local Educators Advancement Program was organized as a venue for continuing education for learning facilitators and educators from various indigenous community schools and public schools in the Philippines.
LEAP seeks to gather IP Educators, IP leaders and IP education implementers and advocates providing them an opportunity to reflect and share on their rich experiences in their engagements for the advancement of IP education.
This year, with LEAP is on its 5th phase, it particularly aims to harness and celebrate the gains of IP education for the last five years after the adoption of the National IP Education Policy Framework or DepEd Order No. 62, s. 2011.
