The Ifugao Rice Terraces are maintained by families, not merely as production areas for a staple crop but also for the sentimental reason that these properties have been passed down from their ancestors. The maintenance of the rice terraces reflects primarily a cooperative approach of the whole community which is based on detailed knowledge of the rich biodiversity existing in the Ifugao agro-ecosystem, a finely tuned annual system respecting the lunar cycle, zoning and planning, extensive soil and water conservation, mastery of the complex pest control regime based on the processing of a variety of herbs, accompanied by religious rituals. Yet, this knowledge is under threat due to socio-cultural changes and the lack of involvement of the youth, which is attracted by the urban globalized way of life. In order to conserve the terraces, the Ifugao culture needs to be recognized and the Ifugao Indigenous Knowledge passed down to the next generation. The sustainable strategy proposed by SITMo is to integrate culture and heritage in the official curriculum so the Ifugao culture can be safeguarded.
In 2013, the Philippines passed legislations for the implementation of Indigenous Peoples Education (IPED.) Long before this, SITMo had been on the forefront of the advocacy to integrate traditional knowledge in the formal schools’ curriculum to address the deterioration of the rice terraces and everything it stood for. The advocacy continues as IPED is now institutionalized, integrating traditional knowledge, mother tongue and local history into the different levels of the educational system.
Community consultations are necessary tools in this process. Community elders, culture bearers and even political leaders are involved from the first consultations up to the validation of produced learning materials for use in schools. The Philippine government provides for a Free and Prior Informed Consent Process (FPIC) which has to be followed.
The educational system in the Philippines is a continuing relic of a colonial strategy to conquer the Indigenous. The Americans put in place an educational system that lasted more than a hundred years, long enough to erase one’s adherence to one’s ethnic identity and embracing a homogenous sense of nationalism. Education was standardized, values were nationalized. Textbooks preached that being a farmer is the consequence of not going to school and that non-Christian beliefs are the ways of savages. Indigenous cultures were demonized to the point that young people actually abhor the idea of being identified as one. An overhaul of the educational system can change this. Decolonizing education is the way forward.