May 18, 2006

Lacub Teachers Host Teachers’ Training for Relevant Education

Around 30 teachers, coming from the six elementary schools of the municipality of Lacub in Abra province, plus two others from Malibcong and Bangued towns completed a three-day Summer Training for Teachers held at Lacub Central School from May 11 to 13, 2006. This training was conducted upon the invitation of the district supervisor and based on a recommendation from a teachers’ summer training held last year.

It can be recalled that a similar seminar-workshop was conducted on a regional level in Baguio City last summer and among the recommendations was to hold similar activities in the provincial level in order to reach out to financially-incapable teachers.

With the theme “Empowering teachers towards a more relevant education in the Cordillera” the said activity aimed at reorienting the content and process of education to make it more responsive to the needs and problems of our people and preparing teachers to promote this kind of education. This training was co-sponsored by the Alliance of Concerned Teachers-Metro Baguio, the Educators Forum for Development (EFD) and the Center for Development Programs in the Cordillera (CDPC) in coordination with the Department of Education Lacub District. A faculty member from Saint Louis University (SLU) and a staff of the Cordillera Peoples Alliance were also invited to discuss some of the topics.

The activity started with an opening program graced by Sanggunian Bayan Member Luis Viste and Lacub District Principal Mrs. Segundina F. Banatao. This was immediately followed by a workshop designed to identify the issues that teachers face in relation to the situation of education in their locality. It appeared that among their common problems are the lack of facilities and resources such as classrooms, books and desks and teachers, obsolete or irrelevant teaching materials and dilapidated facilities. In fact, there are classes who are literally holding their lessons under trees. Many of them are also multi-grade teachers handling two or more classes at a time in one class. In terms of salaries and benefits, the stark reality of low salaries and benefits are worsened by their delay in payment. For example, as of May 18, their salaries for April and May this year have not yet been given. This has, in fact affected, the attendance of some teachers for the training. Aside from this, the teachers also complained of low and unequal hardship allowances, despite their experiencing similar difficulties such as having to walk for several hours to reach their schools and holding classes in dilapidated classrooms. The workshop results were then synthesized and contextualized within the education situation both in the national and regional levels which was shared.

Aside from the education situation, wider concerns were also tackled. An interactive activity aimed at gauging their awareness and appreciation of the situation of women and indigenous peoples was undertaken. Their discussions were creatively presented through songs and uggayam (chant) which were composed right there and then. These geared them to grasp the significance of the succeeding inputs on teachers as women and as members of indigenous communities. An input on the situation of Cordillera indigenous peoples was also discussed by the Cordillera Peoples Alliance.

From the various situations discussed, a nationalist and democratic alternative as a solution to the crises of Philippine society, which shall eventually also resolve the crises of teachers, of women and of indigenous peoples, was presented. For the education sector, this meant having to organize teachers for the promotion of a nationalist, scientific and mass-oriented education, for the advancement of their economic and democratic rights and for their participation in the struggles of our people especially the basic sectors.

An input on teaching skills and techniques reflective of this transformative role of teachers was then also provided and before the end of the activity, the teachers were challenged with the discussion of the ACT orientation to take that first step: to organize themselves.

The training ended with a graduation rites inspired by the presence of the local government officials led by the Honorable Mayor Cesar Baroña and Vice Mayor Lysander Baroña.

Back to back with the training, an outreach program dubbed as “Big Brother Big Sister” sponsored by the mountaineers clubs of Ayala Mountaineers Club Incorporated, Pilipinas Sierra and Kalaylupa in coordination with ACT-Metro Baguio, EFD and TULBEK (Tignayan dagiti Umili ti Lacub, Bantayan ti Ekolohiya ken Kultura) brightened the new schoolyear for more than 500 pupils of Lacub. The outreach program consisted of distributing 535 sets of school supplies to the pupils from the different schools of Lacub on May 14.

The night before, a community cultural program was organized by the local government officials as a welcome celebration to all the visitors and as act of gratitude for the success of both the teachers’ training and the outreach program. Positive feedbacks were gathered from the visitors especially from the mountaineers who expressed appreciation of the culture of the Cordillera vis-a-vis their lives in the urban center. #Connie Sulang/ACT-MB#