LAMUT, Ifugao – Twelve teaching personnel of the Ifugao State University (IFSU) are certified Indigenous Know-ledge (IK) educators following their graduation from a six-month training that aimed to enhance their ability to produce learning materials about the indigenous peoples.
The educators handle the Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Practices (IKSP) subjects and major subjects integrated with IKSP.
The IFSU educators underwent six months of training under the Ifugao Indigenous Knowledge Educators Training Program (IIKETP) and produced instructional materials for indigenous knowledge and sustainable studies.
The educators are Marites Alberto, Dr. Eilene Bugnay, Regina Gano, Kristel Mission, Dr. Desiree Gume Nangpuhan, Alma Tayaban, Eric Bimmoy, Dr. Marites Bumidang, Dr. Leticia Guinsiman, Rolly Keith Nabanalan, Dr. Teroy Pacliw, and Frances Tuguinay.
IFSU President Eva Marie Codamon-Dugyon said the graduates’ designation as IK educators requires them to develop and produce more instructional materials on IKSP.
“This will enable us to become a major institution in IK education,” Dugyon said.
Dr. Da-Wei Kuan, executive director for the Center for Taiwan-Philippines Indigenous Knowledge, Local Knowledge, and Sustainable Studies (CTPILS) and professor at the National Chengchi University (NCCU), said they renewed their partnership with IFSU through a memorandum of understanding on May 23, which made the program possible.
“Our common goal is to establish a platform to launch dialogues and knowledge sharing between two countries with local and academic scholars and to make the interdisciplinary collaboration possible,” Kuan said.
He said Taiwan and the Philippines are similar in many aspects and hopes the collaboration will broaden and strengthen the network for knowledge production among the partners including the University of California Los Angeles, the University of Hawaii at Manoa, NCCU, and IFSU.
“We will further show the world the importance and value of indigenous knowledge when encountering various challenges such as the challenge of climate change, the market economy, state politics, and the transition within communities,” he added.
Frances Tuguinay, one of the IK educators, said the program helped her broaden her knowledge in IKSP.
She added she discovered old Tuwali terms while doing her instructional material on the Ifugao language.
The IIKETP is one of the five program components of the CTPILS launched on July 12, 2019 at IFSU.
It aims to build a core of indigenous knowledge educators from the Department of Education and IFSU with the participation of indigenous knowledge holders and experts from the communities and academe. – Florida B. Robles
