This is the time to harvest programs and strategies for national rollout…  

Such statement of Dr. Jesus Mateo, DepEd Asst. Secretary for Planning Service and the concurrent EDPITAF Director, bespeaks of the resounding support for the Indigenous Peoples curriculum that has come a long way from way back 2004 when it was conceptualized.

During the forum bearing the theme “Towards a Responsive, Culture-Sensitive and Holistic Basic Education for Indigenous Children” held on April 2, 2008, the prime movers and stakeholders of IP education programs from the public and private sectors converged at the IIPE Center for the formal presentation of the indigenous peoples curriculum spearheaded by the Department of Education with support from the Basic Education Assistance for Mindanao.

In her presentation, Dir. Susana Teresa B. Estigoy, Regional Director of DepED RXI, stressed that the curriculum was developed to embody the core values of the indigenous people while adhering to the basic education learning competencies. Its end goal is the development of a more appropriate, culturally-relevant and holistic education for indigenous children. “IP curriculum talks about the IP culture and how it relates to the learning competencies. It is a way of engaging in the learning theory process, the kids in their competencies. Students who undertake this curriculum attain the same level of skills and exposure as students in the normal BEC curriculum,” Dr. Ian D’Arcy Walsh, BEAM Australian Project Director expounded.