Indigenous Peoples and the Right to Education: The Dumagat Experience in the Provinces of Nueva Ecija and Aurora, in the Philippines

The Philippine historical accounts show that Indigenous Peoples (IPs) in the Philippines have long been suffering from discrimination and lack of access to Education. The IPs comprise about 10% to 20% of the Philippines’s 102.9 million total populations. The Philippine educational system’s neo-colonial background creates injustice on some cultural minorities who can attend school. For this matter, the study measures the perceptions of the Dumagats on their rights to Education. It focuses on the Dumagat communities in the provinces of Nueva Ecija and Aurora in the Philippines. By using the simple binary quantitative tool, the qualitative method of research, the application of Indigenous research methods, and critical pedagogy as analytical lens, the study found that (a) the implementation of the Philippine policies on the rights to Education as reflected on the Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act (IPRA) of 1997 is more of a tokenism; (b) the enjoyment of the right to Education of IPs is hindered mainly by poverty; (c) English remains the widely used medium of instruction in most IP curricula; and (d) the IPs’ limited knowledge on specific provisions of IPRA related to the access to Education and culture is short of the policy ideals. The above findings necessitate change agents to start a process of pedagogical liberation. The National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) personnel and IP teachers can play a vital role as change agents and may act to correct the historical injustices on IPs’ rights and welfare.