The EFA-ESD vacuum in the Makabayan curriculum

I was a post World War II child when I attended public school at the San Andres Elementary School (now Aurora Quezon Elementary School), a 20-minute walk from our residence in Singalong. Among my teachers were Miss Red, Mrs. Bailey, Miss Fernandez, and Mr. Salazar. Two of my classmates shared with me the cultivation of a small garden plot with pechay seedlings from the Bureau of Plant across the school. That has been more than five decades ago. It seems that the school curriculum has not changed much in the new millennium.

HEKASI curriculum

HEKASI stands for the combination of Geography, History, and Civics in the Department of Education Social Studies curriculum. Re-labeled Makabayan, it clustered other subjects integrating them with Music, Arts and Physical Education, and adding Livelihood lessons, when Secretary Raul Roco was DepEd Secretary.

Since the global monitoring and evaluation of Education for All (EFA) 1990-2000 in Dakar, Africa, UNESCO was pleased to observe that universal access to education improved, but was quite disturbed that quality was missing. For each country to meet the UN Millennium Development Goal, the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development was declared so that the aim of helping people help themselves, instead of merely making them literate was linked to EFA.

In 2001, our UNESCO Education Committee undertook the so-called EFA-DAKAR pilot transforming the conventional curriculum into the Pagsasarili system (drawn from the universally-tested Montessori system) and re-training the public school elementary teachers of Pulung Bulu in Angeles, Pampanga. Then DepEd Secretary Edilberto de Jesus joined the launching at a lahar-damaged schoolhouse which was converted into a two-story schoolhouse with 18 classrooms with the help of the friends of my husband, Max.

To see the similarities as well as differences of the Pagsasarili program with the current Basic Education course used all over the country, I scrutinized the DepEd curriculum focusing only on HEKASI. I was disturbed and quite puzzled why the contents were too simple and lacked a comprehensive wholeness.

HEKASI in the Makabayan Basic Education Curriculum

Our UNESCO assistance in re-training public school teachers occur every summer school break. Last year, Region IV-A Director Dr. Para Giron, a UNESCO commissioner, helped us choose Maria Kalaw Katigbak Elementary School in Lipa to pilot the use of the ESD version of Social Studies, which involves the concerns of the UNESCO Social and Human Science mandates. It is drawn from the Montessori Cosmic Science continuum curriculum fulfilling the four pillars of the 21st century education: Pillar I – Learning to Be – for the first six years of “formative” life allows the child to learn to walk and speak independently; Pillar II – Learning to Learn – satisfies the enormous reasoning power of 6 to 12 years old; Pillar III – Learning to Work – fulfills the economic independence of 12 to 18; and Pillar IV – 18 to 24 years old – Learning to Live in Harmony with others. Instead of depending on textbooks, hands-on materials are used to understand better Geography, History, Botany, Zoology, Economics and Government.

HEKASI as programmed by DepEd for Grades I to IV uses textbooks with very simple lessons for a child to identify himself/herself as a Filipino citizen with a special flag symbolizing the country with its three major islands. Families make up the population. The archipelago with numerous islands, long coastlines, mountains and rivers provide opportunities for various occupations that enable the citizen to sustain their lives. We have a national flower, fruit, tree, hero, etc.

Tourists visit our historical and cultural landmarks. Farming and fishing are important occupation in the archipelago. The local government provides service to the people. The Philippines is divided into 17 regions.

The globe symbolizes the whole world. One can locate the Philippines on a flat map. Planet Earth revolves on its axis. When parts of the world faces the sun its day time, but when away from the sun, it is night time.

Grade V to VI Philippine history is divided into ancient Philippines, Spanish, American (Commonwealth) and Japanese times. When independence was gained, the country became a republic. Martial Law was imposed from 1972 to 1985. The EDSA People Power Revolution brought back our freedom.

The citizens are the most important element of a sovereign state. There are laws to use and protect the physical territory of the Philippines. This is provided by the government. A good citizen must understand this to promote national progress.

The entry point of UNESCO ESD is Social Studies

Compared to the purely Philippine focus of HEKASI, the Cosmic Social and Human Science program uses a global framework. The ESD Social and Human Science curriculum promoted by the UNESCO Philippines – SEA-CLLSD is drawn from the Montessori Cosmic Science, which has been practiced by the OB Montessori schools and later assimilated in the EFA-DAKAR public school pilot in the past 44 years. Its vision is the emergence of the “new person” who will no longer be a victim of events because his clarity of vision enables him to conserve Planet Earth.

From preschool to Grade III, Geography lessons using the globe, puzzle map of the world, Asia and the Philippines first teach the child the “four blankets of the earth: “the land (lithosphere), water (hydrosphere), air (atmosphere) and life in each stratum (biosphere). Man and the Biosphere is a major concern of UNESCO to instill one’s obligation to protect the environment.

This is reinforced by the overall framework of “The Cosmic Organization”, an illustrated poster showing our multi-cultural societies. The tropic, frigid, and temperate zones of the world is covered with the environment of the Animal, Plant, and Mineral Kingdoms. It is complemented by another poster “Fundamental Needs of Man.” The central figure is the human being. On one side are the basic materials needs of food, clothing and shelter, while the other side shows secondary needs for education, religion, art and recreation.

The totem pole of history

The world is made up of continents and major oceans (puzzle map of 7 continents). The puzzle map of Asia includes the Philippines as one of 36 countries of the continent. This leads to the puzzle map of the Philippines, which has 17 pieces. Each region has the provinces marked out. By Grade IV, Philippine economic geography show several charts marking the rice and corn belt, sugar, coconut, lumber areas, fishing sites, etc.

History time scroll guides a child to do his timeline among other family members. A six-meter scroll laid out on the floor shows twenty century segments before Christ (B.C.) and after Christ (A.D.). Picture cards on the History of Food, Clothing, Shelter, Transport, etc, are laid out here making the child aware how we in the 21st century owe very much to explorers, scientists, and pioneers who have continued to discover numerous things to lift up the lives of mankind.

ESD extends to high school economics, taxation, banking and loans

The culture-loaded Cosmic Science curriculum shows how the growth of population accompanies economic progress while increasing human responsibilities for the environment.

In the early times, when the population was small the family was self-sufficient: fathers taught his son to farm while mother guided her daughter to keep house, cook and care for the baby. When the population grew families moved to towns. Longer roads, bigger schools, markets and hospitals were provided. The only way to finance these services was to let everyone contribute. This process is taxation.

Lesson on the Interdependence of Man / Woman is illustrated by family members who are both Consumers and Producers. Example is a father who sells bread. This is traced to the wheat farm where the grains are planted and harvested. A driver brings them to the miller. Storing them into sack, another driver takes them to the baker where the dough maker and baker prepare them for packaging. Drivers take them to groceries, sari-sari store or eateries. Ten people are employed to produce this merchandise. The successful bakeshop owner keeps a bank account for his savings and loans. To enlarge his business he may borrow money from the bank.

The Philippines at the crossroad of opportunities

The 2010 EFA Global Monitoring Report “Reaching the Unreached” referred to the marginalized population on the mountains and coastlines which is plentiful in the Philippines. It showed EFA progress in our country “stagnant” and “under performing” with far-reaching impact on our financial and economic crisis. The Philippines is at a crossroad whether to continue business as usual or use these crises as an opportunity to create a sustainable education system and put an end to all forms of marginalization.

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