MANILA – A new academic subject – autonomy – has been approved for inclusion in the curriculum of colleges  and universities in the Cordillera Region of the Northern Luzon highlands when schools open in June, a ranking education official disclosed.
Dr. Freddie Bernal, the Cordillera regional director of the Commission on Higher Education (Ched), revealed that Ched approved the incorporation of the autonomy issue in the college subject known as the National Service Training Programme (NSTP).
Bernal explained the subject would provide the youth with a broader knowledge of what autonomy, or self governance, is all about, especially its advantages to a resource-rich region like the Cordillera.
Part of the Cordillera is Baguio City which, aside from being known as the “summer capital of the Philippines, is also acknowledged as the “educational center” of Northern Luzon because it hosts a number of prestigious schools like the Saint Louis University and a branch of the state-owned University of the Philippines system.
Besides Baguio, the region also includes such provinces as Abra, Ifugao, Kalinga, Apayao and Mountain Province.
According to Bernal, the module for the teaching of the concept of autonomy to students is now ready for distribution to the colleges and universities in the region.
However, the Ched official clarified the teaching of the concept in the tertiary level, meaning colleges and universities, does not aim to influence the youth to favor Cordillera’s quest for autonomy.
Rather, Bernal said the subject aims to provide the students with a broader picture of the issue and, thus, help them come out with an independent assessment of the advantages and disadvantages of an autonomous government.
Actually, however, Bernal admitted that the teaching of autonomy forms vital part of the Cordillera Regional Development Council (RDC) to pursue the issue of autonomy, beginning at the grassroots.
To achieve, this, the RDC eventually hopes to introduce the subject also in the elementaryand high school levels to enhance its information, education and communication campaign on autonomy, Bernal stressed.
In turn, he said, the campaign aims to improve awareness by residents in the struggle for self-governance through the establishment of an autonomous region.
Other RDC officials disclosed that the Department of Education is now finalizing its version of the teaching module on autonomy for distribution to the region’s elementary and high schools.
But officials admitted they are unsure whether the modules would be finished on time for the opening of the new school year in June.
Nevertheless, officials expressed confidence that its introduction as a subject would make the people, especially the young, more aware of the issue and encourage them to pursue autonomy with greater vigor.
For as the RDC put it, autonomy is a vital tool to hasten development in the countryside with the establishment of an autonomous regional government which will have control of the environment and resources.
Efforts to establish a Cordillera Administrative Region (Car), similar to the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), failed earlier when it lost in a plebiscite as mandated by the 1987 Constitution.
But despite the initial failure, RDC officials did not give up the fight, saying the introduction of autonomy as a subject in schools will lead to greater awareness that will eventually lead to the achievement of their dream for a Cordillera regional autonomous government.
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