Cordillerans reminded not to retaliate against ethnic slurs

Cordillerans should not retaliate against other individuals as a response to discriminatory acts done against them, the Department of Education Cordillera appealed.
Shedding light on the issue on certain learning materials with contents prejudicial against Cordillerans during a session with the city council, DepEd-Cordillera Director Estela Cariño underscored the value of respect in dealing with ethnic slurs and discriminatory acts.
She said the DepEd-Cordillera tried to trace the sources of the pictures of the learning modules that circulated on social media and it turned out one of those made and reproduced in another region did not go through quality assurance procedure.
Copies of the module were retrieved and rectified after the DepEd-Cordillera notified the concerned region, which sent a letter of apology to the DepEd-Cordillera thereafter.
“While it’s true that there have been discriminatory acts done against us, Igorots, we should not do the same. Keep the respect. Saan tayu nga agibales,” Cariño said.
She said the DepEd is taking urgent and relevant steps to ensure learning modules have undergone strict quality assurance measures and that the rights of indigenous peoples are respected at all times.
To avoid committing the same blunder against indigenous groups, Cariño said there is a need for every public school in the region to adhere to the set procedures in producing locally-developed learning resources.
Through a regional memorandum, Cariño has directed schools division offices to do a thorough review of all locally-made modules and activity sheets to ensure these are compliant to content standards.
The memorandum stated DepEd personnel who commit lapses in the development, evaluation, and reproduction of learning resources, which may result in the inclusion of contents inconsistent with content standards shall be subject to appropriate sanctions.
Cariño urged the city council to pass measures that will help promote awareness about the indigenous peoples.
The council earlier passed a resolution deploring the concerned learning materials and another resolution requesting the DepEd to allocate annual funds for the Institutionalized Indigenous Peoples Education and to publish materials on the culture and heritage of IPs as part of their educational materials.
The council invited the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples to join the DepEd-Cordillera next week for further discussions. – Jordan G. Habbiling