September 14, 2010
DepEd Order No. 101, s. 2010
THE ALTERNATIVE LEARNING SYSTEM (ALS) CURRICULUM FOR INDIGENOUS PEOPLES (IPs) EDUCATION
To:
Undersecretaries
Assistant Secretaries
Bureau Directors
Directors of Services, Centers and Heads of Units
Regional Directors
Schools Division/City Superintendents
1. In response to the Education for All (EFA) campaign to provide for the basic learning needs of all marginalized learners, the Bureau of Alternative Learning System (BALS) initiated the development of an education curriculum that was designed to meet the learning needs of the Indigenous People (IP) communities.
2. The IP Education Curriculum for the Alternative Learning System (ALS) was developed in the year 2006 in coordination with the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) and was validated by the various indigenous cultural communities (ICCs) in the Philippines.
3. The learning competencies of the IP Curriculum were drawn from the existing ALS curriculum for the basic literacy, elementary and secondary levels. The curriculum content however, was based on the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA) or Republic Act (RA) No. 8371. The educational goal of the IP Curriculum is the attainment of functional literacy for the IPs.
4. The IP Curriculum reflects the core areas of the IP’s concerns such as the following:
a. Family Life – It touches on the life of an IP as a member of the family from birth to death. It delineates the varying roles of the members of the family and how these affect the individual and the whole ICC in their respective domains;
b. Health, Sanitation and Nutrition – This brings into fore the IP’s concept of self and the environment and how each interplays with the other. It features the indigenous practices, knowledge and local beliefs on hygiene, health and food. The core area discusses the common ailments and health issues confronting the IPs brought about by their unique geographical locations and situations;
c. Civic Consciousness – It highlights the rich worldview of the IPs ranging from their life ways, identify and history. It is loaded heavily with their aspirations, needs and sentiments as a people. This core area also includes provisions of the RA No. 8371 or the IPRA which brings into consciousness the IP’s rights to their ancestral domain and their development;
d. Economics and Income – It presents the system of community management of supply and demand among the IPs. It features the IP’s forms of earning a living and caring for their communal source of life and livelihood; and
e. Environment – It deals with the IP’s communion with nature. It stresses their strong attachment to the environment.
5. The core learning competencies are reflected in the learning strands of the IP curriculum, namely:
a. Learning Strand One – Communication Skills. This strand aims to develop the ability of the IP learners to access, critically process and effectively make use of available information in a variety of media to be able to: (a) function effectively as a member of the family, community, nation and the world; and (b) actively participate in community and economic development;
b. Learning Strand Two – Problem Solving and Critical Thinking.
This strand aims to enable the IP learners to be aware of their own thinking, make critical and informed decisions, defend their ideas, evaluate the ideas of others and strive for new ways of solving problems, and do all these in an atmosphere of community and consensus-building. Through the development of these skills, IP learners will be able to enhance their personal social effectiveness and improve the quality of their lives.
c. Learning Strand Three – Development of Self and a Sense of Community. This strand aims to help the IP learners acquire a positive sense of self and a sense of community that will lead to the development of their potentials and enable them to live harmoniously together and with others.
d. Learning Strand Four – Practice of Ecological Sustainable Economics. This learning strand aims to help the IP learners achieve responsible well-being and ensure active participation in the economic life of the community. Its framework rests on the understanding that any human community’s life and existence is anchored on the well-being of the ancestral domain (resource) on which the community depends.
e. Learning Strand Five – Expanding One’s World View. This strand aims to provide an atmosphere for the IP learners to appreciate and practice freely their own culture and at the same time to be equipped with basic competencies to face the challenges of a global community and the influx of change.
6. The IP Curriculum is supported by learning resources that are written in mother tongue. Presently, thirteen (13) of the basic literacy level materials are written in eight (8) mother tongue and are being used in selected Community Learning Centers (CLC) of the ICCs.
7. The IP Curriculum is to be implemented by trained ALS implementers with IP learners.
8. Immediate dissemination of and compliance with this Order is directed.
BR. ARMIN A. LUISTRO FSC
Secretary