Project Report - La Trobe University

eaches the village. It is the only village
without electricity in the municipality,
and a subsistence economy prevails.
Mobile phone reception is temperamental
and only from a few locations.
We were introduced to Chananaw by a
mutual friend one year ago. Both of us
having learnt of many of the negative
aspects of globalisation and the
international development industry as
part of our Social Science training, we
quickly struck up a friendship with
several members of the tribe who were
keen to share with us their ideas and
concerns regarding the Ichananaw’s
increasing interaction with the outside
world, as national and multinational
corporations sit poised to extract natural
resources from their lands, if only the
tribe would consent. Our friends’ key
concern is for development on the
community’s own terms; life here could
be improved in many respects but there is
much they want to retain from the old
ways.
On our second visit, a tribal elder and
friend, Daniel, invited us to live in
Chananaw for one year to help them to
document their ‘life system’ in order to
pass it on to their future generations – a
dream of his for many years. We said we’d
love to in 2009 when Maria would finish
her 11-month AYAD volunteer
assignment (working at the Ateneo
Center for Educational Development
[ACED] in Manila to improve the quality
of public education in the Philippines).
Edwin decided to put his PhD in Sociology
on hold to work on the project, having
completed a year’s fieldwork in Manila.
From the seed of Daniel’s initial
invitation, we designed a five-month
project to document the Ichananaw’s way
of life and to develop ‘indigenised’
educational materials for use in their local
public school as the means for passing
cultural heritage to the next generation.
Indigenizing Education in a Kalinga Public School | 38
Our twin goal is to improve the quality of
education at the school through making
education more culturally appropriate.
This ties in nicely with current national
education policy trends in the Philippines
regarding education for indigenous
peoples. For instance, the value of
learning in one’s native language first,
before having to learn the country’s two
official languages (Filipino and English) is
being promoted from several quarters
and a bill for mother-tongue languages as
the medium of instruction for the first
three years of schooling is being
considered by congress, to combat poor
public educational outcomes across the
Philippines.
With the Dananao Elementary School
(our host organisation), we managed to
arrange support from VIDA for the
project. We are also Honorary Research
Fellows at La Trobe University’s
Philippines Australia Studies Centre, and
Edwin is a Research Affiliate of University
of the Philippines-Baguio’s Cordillera
Studies Center, to support the research
aspects of the project. Dananao
Elementary School is also partnering with
ACED for the development and
publication of indigenised educational
materials and ACED is applying to the
Australian Government for a Direct Aid
Program grant to cover publishing costs.
So the project really cuts across
education, development and academia,
with the overall aim of meeting the
community’s initial request.
Another goal is to link the Ichananaw to
local development organisations. Already,
the school has become a partner school of
ACED. Also, Cartwheel Foundation – a
local NGO supporting education for
remote indigenous communities – will be
running its Music and Arts Program in
Chananaw this May-June. Some of the
stories and songs we gather are also likely
to be included in a UNICEF Philippines
publication to be used in childcare