Davao youth speaks Mindanao
2007-07-10
Schools and teachers are the most influential in shaping the opinions, perceptions, and knowledge of the youth especially on Mindanao issues. This was confirmed in the youth opinion poll conducted by AFRIM to 446 secondary students from four public secondary schools and a private school in Davao City in School Year 2006-2007.
The opinion poll was conducted on the belief that the youth are not just mere recipients of information, they play a critical role in the articulation, development, and management of current and future societal concerns. Their natural inclination towards idealism as part of their growth process and newly attained capacity for abstract thinking, having a good knowledge and understanding of their views and perceptions about issues at the local and global levels that impact Mindanao especially peace and development would provide strategic input into how to further engage them in peacebuilding.
Thus, the poll hopes to asses levels of awareness and concern of the youth on issues that impact Mindanao development; determine perceptions towards war and conflict, the indigenous peoples (IP), and Muslim Filipinos; also identify sources of information on issues and the level of importance they accord these sources; and provide both government and nongovernment organizations (NGO) insights on how to further engage the youth in peacebuilding.
The respondents of the survey are first to fourth year students aged 12 to 17 years old from partner-secondary schools of AFRIM’s peace education program namely: Davao City National High School (NHS), Erico T. Nograles NHS, Daniel R. Aguinaldo NHS, Doña Carmen Denia NHS, and Davao Central HS. Most of these 446 respondents are Roman Catholics and belong to low-income families in Davao City.
Regard on Mindanao issues and their sources of information
Overall, Davao youth have a high level of awareness of Mindanao issues. Terrorism, poverty, armed conflict, human rights violations, and environmental degradation are among the issues they learn about in school and for which they show concern. But except for the issue of armed and inter-ethnic conflict, females show more concern for Mindanao issues compared to males.
There is an overall positive regard for both IP and Moro groups. Biases against the IPs and Moro peoples, however, cannot be overlooked. Students described IPs as indigents and as being dependent on the government for support; Moro peoples as seen as warlike and as the cause of conflict in Mindanao. Students may have picked up such messages from media and schools, and from interaction with friends and family.
Results also show that IPs and Moro peoples are in solidarity with each other, as indicated in the students’ responses whose religion is Islam. This may be understood in terms of history: these groups have interacted and lived near each other, sharing common issues of minoritization and exploitation.
The Davao youth tune in to the television, which remains a major source of information, but they do not accord the TV with much importance in terms of influencing their perceptions. The TV is an accessible source of information: most households, even in the urban poor areas, have at least one TV set.
Except for newspapers, which rank third, other print materials such as books, pamphlets, posters, and primers are not major sources of information. Students, however, rank books higher than TV in terms of level of importance. Available books (i.e., textbooks) and other print media carry little information or do not tackle Mindanao issues the way TV does. But, TV portrays Mindanao in a negative way most of the time. This may be the reason books and print media are not considered major sources of information on Mindanao issues.
Among social institutions, schools and teachers are seen as the most dominant in terms of shaping the youth’s opinions, perceptions, and knowledge. Students also consider information from friends and family as more important than those from TV, newspapers, and radio. This implies that the school and teachers as well as the students’ significant people are very influential in shaping their minds.
The challenge
There is, therefore, a need for schools—administrators, teachers—and parents to come together in support of efforts to raise the awareness and understanding of the youth on important Mindanao issues. It is in schools that we plant seeds of social responsibility in our youth. The results of the survey reaffirm this role.
Specifically, teachers are crucial frontliners in the task of understanding Mindanao issues. Thus, the challenge is for teachers to be more aware of critical social issues and messages conveyed by the media, especially TV, to be able to communicate accurate information on cultural biases or misinformation. Teachers need to be media-literate to teach students analytical and critical thinking tools to filter information they get from the media. It goes without saying that teachers must constantly equip themselves with knowledge and understanding not just of their subject area but also of their subject’s relation to overall societal issues. The need to support teachers with relevant materials is paramount.
Presently, there is a dearth of such supplementary materials for both teachers and students. Although NGOs produce popular education materials (i.e., primers, pamphlets and posters), the survey says these are perceived as neither major nor influential information sources. This implies that NGOs have not significantly reached schools, or if there is any engagement, there may not have been much impact yet.
Despite this, NGOs are still in the best position to address the dual needs of strategically engaging schools, teachers, and students and developing relevant and target-appropriate materials that supplement teaching and learning in schools. The work of bridging the gap in collaboration between schools and civil society and producing supplementary materials falls within the ambit of NGOs, especially those involved in peace education advocacy.
Executive Order (EO) No. 570 or the institutionalization of peace education in basic education and teacher education enacted in September 2006 provides the policy backbone for the advocacy towards mainstreaming in schools the concepts and values of peace, the tripeople history of Mindanao, and interfaith and intercultural understanding. While the implementing rules and regulations still need to be drafted, EO 570 poses an opportunity for civil society organizations engaged in peace education to synergize efforts with government agencies, such as the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process, Department of Education, and the Commission on Higher Education for the EO’s implementation. The youth opinion poll results can, in fact, provide input into how better to engage teachers and students in peacebuilding efforts.
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For more information on the results of the youth opinion poll, please email infoservices@afrim.org.ph for a copy, or watch out for the downloadable copy this month at www.afrim.org.ph
By: infoservices
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