“Nakakakagalit… nakakadismaya” – Congressman Eric Yap on DepEd modules degrading Igorots

Tabuk City, Kalinga – Benguet Congressman Eric Yap on Thursday, February 4, 2021 called the attention of the Department of Education and told them to do a massive review of its textbooks and other materials used in schools following circulation of photos of modules online depicting Igorots in a discriminating way.

Yap described the module’s content as infuriating and frustrating, adding that it is unbelievable that it became part of the learning modules of the students.

“Nakakagalit. Nakakadismaya. It is not clear whether it forms part of a textbook, a module or a test sheet, but regardless of its form and context, this is an insult, an obvious form of discrimination and a mockery of our rich culture in the Cordillera,” the congressman wrote.

“What message are we sending our students reading these? Okay lang na ma-bully ang bata dahil sa kanyang anyo? Okay lang ma-discriminate dahil sa kasuotan? Sa murang edad ng mga estudyante, ito ang ituturo natin,” Yap continued.

The Congressman through his Facebook post also urged DepEd Secretary Leonor Briones to issue a Department Order instructing teachers nationwide to forbid them from using discriminatory statements when preparing their modules.

“This is not the first time that this happened and at this point, the Department should take responsibility,” he added.

Congressman Yap said he will raise the matter in Congress through filing a house resolution and will summon DepEd officials to give their explanation regarding the issue and in some ‘inaccuracy and sign of incompetence in learning materials’.

Deped Cordillera already took action regarding the matter as they instructed regional and schools’ division offices utilizing said materials to make necessary changes on said modules.

A module posted on Facebook with an instruction asking pupils to distinguish if the situation portrayed in the sentence is right or wrong was questioned.

The sentence, ‘Hindi ako makikipaglaro sa aking kaklase na Igorot dahil iba ang kanyang pananamit’ caught the attention and angried Igorot netizens on Facebook.

On same online site, another module’s content saying, “Nakita mong tinutukso ng kaklase mo ang isang batang Igorot dahil sa kanyang anyo,” made netizen questioned DepEd and asked for an explanation regarding the learning module.

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