School children are taught in history classes that the Aetas are among the first inhabitants of the Philippines. Aetas are typified by their physical attributes like dark skin, kinky hair, thick lips, small round noses, and big eyes.

The face of the Aetas is one of the most prominent in Philippine culture and children are taught in school that the Aetas are primitive people.

This is one reason why Aetas shy away from schools, said Carling Dumulot, a 49-year old Aeta leader from Zambales. “It seems that we are being insulted,” he said.

Aetas have not been provided basic services and have not been able to communicate their needs to the government. “We could not sign up for gatherings and cannot write letters to local government officials,” Dumulot said, referring to their inability to read and write.

In 1983, the Franciscan Missionary Sisters took action to try to erase the discrimination against the ethnic minority community and introduced the non-formal education (NFE) system to the Aetas of Zambales. It aims to teach them to read and write and do arithmetic.

The NFE is an alternative learning system (ALS) that is appropriate to the indigenous peoples’ cultural background. It is taught at their own pace and according to their intellectual ability.

It would hopefully advance the knowledge of indigenous communities without compromising the Aetas’ culture and indigenous knowledge system.

Instead of the Aetas going to school, the NFE program has para-teachers trained by the Franciscan sisters to reach out to them. NFE is free for all Aetas.

But not all Aetas have embraced it for economic reasons.

“They live in poverty. Their main priority is livelihood and they do not see the need to be educated,” said para-teacher Helen Abarra, one of the first para-teachers and now NFE coordinator in Zambales. She is a member of Edukasyon Para sa Ikabubuti ng Katutubo (EPIK).

Foreign and domestic funds

When the Aetas in Zambales were displaced during the Mount Pinatubo eruption in 1991, they fled from the mountain to the lowlands to save their communities.  It was then that their elders realized they needed education in order to effectively communicate their needs to the authorities and the larger community, Abarra said.

To get help to continue the NFE program for the Aetas, Abarra approached Al Carillo, a Zambales coordinator of a non-government organization, Project Development Institute (PDI), which advocates agrarian reform and sustainable development among farmers and indigenous peoples. PDI then was helping relocate and build new communities for farmers and Aetas who lost their land as a result of the eruption.

The initial funding for the project in 2003 came from the Evangelischer Entwicklungsdienst, a German Protestant development service providing financial assistance to projects that help alleviate poverty in different parts of the world.

In 2006, the local unit of the Swedish ball bearings company, Svenska Kullagerfabriken or SKF, came in to help fund the project. This is in line with their corporate social responsibility and vision of helping communities attain sustainable development, according to Mario Pilones, President of SKF Philippines. The Department of Education also provides assistance in training the para-teachers.

Mobile education

Directed toward educating indigenous peoples, NFE learning modules are designed by the 19 para-teachers to cater to the culture of the Aetas in 11 different communities in Botolan and Masinloc, Zambales.

It is important that the para-teachers are also Aetas because most Aetas do not know how to speak Tagalog. “Although their alphabet is Tagalog, their language is their native tongue Sambal,” Carillo said.

Para-teachers do not have to be college graduates or pass any type of exam. “As long as they undergo the yearly summer training and know how to read and write, they could be para-teachers,” said Abarra.

The modules contain drawings and tackle issues that are relevant to the lives of the Aetas.

“We can’t ask the students to write the letter ‘A’ like in formal education. For them to be able to get the concept of the letter ‘A,’ we tell them stories, we ask them to write the shape of the top of their houses and we associate that with the letter,” said Arel Dumulot, an Aeta NFE para-teacher.

“The great thing about NFE is that the lessons are based on our culture,” NFE student Yalong Cosme said. “The classes are also in our own language.”
Education, Abarra said, must empower them to stand up on issues that affect their communities.

Last year, the Aetas were affected by intense mining activities, prompting the para-teachers to discuss the issue.

“So we decided that our modules would present drawings and stories that would educate them about the ill-effects of mining while they learn how to read and count,” Abarra said.

This year, she said the modules should help the Aetas in their struggle for their ancestral domain in relation to the controversial Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program of the government.

No age limit

The Aetas register for classes in May before the start of the school year. Although classes are from June to March, they do not follow the 5-day week of regular schools.

“Because most Aetas are fishermen and farmers, we go to them whatever time they are available,” Abarra said.

In 2007, 224 Aetas signed up for NFE classes, but only 108 finished the course. Those who left chose to give more time to farming or had to find other jobs to augment their families’ income.

Each class of 18-25 students meets one to three times a week for three hours every session. “We do this because we understand that they prioritize livelihood, but at the same time value education. Formal education does not give them this luxury,” Carillo said.

Another difference between the NFE and formal schooling is that there is no age limit at any level. “Some mothers and their children are classmates,” Abarra said.

There is also no required physical structure for a school. They hold classes under mango trees, inside their own houses or on the side streets, “wherever it is convenient for them,” said Abarra.

The hardworking para-teachers even go up to the mountains when a student is absent just so they could help him catch up with the lessons.

Like formal education

Although the program is culture-centered, the Aeta students’ literacy skills are comparable to those who go through formal education.

Every year, the NFE learners take the DepEd’s ALS equivalency test. If they pass this test, they move to a level higher. Some Aetas who graduated from Level 5 have gone to college, taking up nursing, hotel and restaurant management, engineering and accounting, Abarra said.

SKF president Pilones told abs-cbnnews.com/Newbsreak during a para-teacher training that his company is open to providing apprenticeship programs to Aeta graduates of information technology, engineering and business and finance as an extension of its financial assistance to the NFE.

While though most Aetas stay in their communities and remain farmers and fishermen, the outstanding students are groomed to be community leaders.

Improved lives, improved livelihood

As more Aetas become educated, the more their lives and livelihood flourish.

In the past, traders who bought their products cheated the Aetas, recalled Aeta leader Dumulot. Some traders paid them in coins and deceived the Aetas by saying they were worth more than paper money because they were heavier.

Now, the Aetas are able to price their products properly and interact with middlemen. Sometimes, they do not even need middlemen and sell their products directly to consumers in the markets.

They now could also vote properly.

“Before, we were too shy to vote. They tricked us and offered to write down the names of candidates we chose. They showed us what they wrote, but we could not understand it anyway,” Lita Dumasina, former NFE learner now NFE para-teacher, said.

They were also forced to sign documents and land titles that eventually led to the loss of their ancestral lands.

“They lost a lot of land because they did not understand what was written in the documents,” Carillo said.

But with NFE, they could now vote, write letters, and participate in local government discussions with the community.

Better roads and drainage systems were provided for their communities as a result. They could now read the documents properly and are no longer fooled into signing spurious papers.

Gender equality is also a development that came with NFE.

“Before, women were only supposed to stay at home and care for children and go to the fields to help their husbands,” said Abarra.

Last year, most NFE learners, 96 out of 108, were women who have not had the opportunity to read and write.

But the most important achievement of the NFE is the development of the Aetas’ self-esteem.

Pilones, a scholar from grade school to college, brims with optimism: “I think more than anything, I am happy that an education program gives hope for a brighter future for the most marginalized people in the Philippines.”