BY: FAYETTE C. RIÑEN
CEBU CITY, August 04 (PIA) – Teaching subjects using culture and the arts is now being integrated in the curriculum of the DepEd and the Commission for Higher Education (CHED) for students to better understand, appreciate and value their heritage through culture and the arts.
Commissioner Orlando Magno of the National Commission for the Culture and the Arts (NCCA) said the commission ties up with DepEd and CHED as part of the aggressive campaign to promote Philippine culture and the arts and instill a strong sense of nationhood and pride among students as Filipinos.
“There is a need to promote, develop and preserve our country’s culture and the arts,” and one way of doing that is publicize this inside the classrooms, said Magno, a Cebuano who chairs the Sub-Commission on Cultural Dissemination.
Magno pegged cultural awareness among students today at seven from a ranking of one to 10, one being the lowest and 10 as the highest. But we need to be consistent with our advocacy on cultural dissemination, said Magno.
For five years now, the NCCA has been giving free scholarships to public school teachers on how to effectively teach subjects using culture and the arts. “Our conduit schools in Central Visayas are Holy Name University in Bohol and the Cebu Normal University in Cebu,” said Magno.
The NCCA commissioner said every year, around 35 to 40 public school teachers are given the free scholarship training which they in turn, are expected to impart and share their knowledge to other teachers.
“It is like developing trainors for them to also train other teachers on how to include culture and the arts in teaching the subjects,” said Magno.
Magno said teaching subjects using the vernacular for better understanding is also one way of valuing and preserving our local culture unique to that certain area. (mbcn/fcr/PIA-7)