THIS AUDACIOUS society still has the guts to be blinded by stereotypes about peace education, which seeks to embrace learning that encompasses the inner workings of race, tribe, and even religion. Currently, Philippine culture still fails to be progressive and accept the liberal changes the Department of Education (DepEd) is working on, like introducing information about indigenous people who have been marginalized not only by discriminating against their socio-economic status but also because society itself chooses to separate itself from these tribes just because they have been institutionalized by conservative means. Although peace education is on its way, this does not mean that the oppressed will get their justice unless the ignorant social order chooses to prioritize the masses before their conformist ideologies.

The Education Program Supervisor (EPS) in Araling Panlipunan of the Department of Education (DepEd) in Cavite, Emily Quintos, recently revealed that there are plans to introduce wider opportunities for the indigenous and indigent parts of the country. Furthermore, she also added that peace education will discuss different types of concord, like having fulfillment in serving others. Despite this, Quintos also added that most of society still fails to conform to these progressive talks, and the education sector continues to push for Juan.

These problems are rooted in the ignorance of society, which insists that having stereotypes is still the way to go due to the fact that they are still prevalent in today’s standards, as the EPS themselves agree that people still fail to account for the marginalized sectors. This is proven by the fact that people still cannot move past the ideology that practitioners of the Islam faith are plain terrorists, which is just straight-up derogatory and discriminatory, which is a decades-old belief the people still fail to recognize. All of these facts are just a testament to the fact that the country still has no place for reform if its people still continue to despise other religions, while the 86 percent of the population, which are Roman Catholics, clearly state in the Bible that you should accept and love others like you would yourself.

Aside from this, the people still fail to recognize the difference between indigenous and indigent people, which is just further proof that the country stays silent when it comes to education about those who are frightened by oppressors. Actually, the indigenous are part of local tribes and the indigent are those who are less fortunate and are to accept incentives from the government, like the 4PS program for example. To sum it all up, this means that the people are still not made aware of the difference between education about peace and even acceptance of the marginalized because they play coy to these blatant facts, despite the fact that the EPS herself says the education sector is making moves to improve the dissemination of this evidence.

Furthermore, the people are also selective when it comes to their inclusivity because some of them only acknowledge the problems and disputes of the “famous” and issues that will paint them a politically correct image, like the LGBTQIA+ community. This is not a shot at the part of the already downgraded sector—but at the people who only choose to be inclusive just because they think it will make them better in the eyes of many. Moreover, the people also choose to ignore the specifics about peace, where it will only be achieved if the people accept the truth the government is pushing out.

Having this ignorant society continue to play blind to the anguishes of the marginalized and overlook the progressive reforms that DepEd is pushing out is just a testament to their selective acceptance of the Filipino people. Should this continue furthermore, the people should accept peace education, disregard their biases, and let the department dish out the peace education they so ever push for in underrepresented communities. If this is disregarded by society evermore, this will never let our country evolve from its wickedness and only add to the burdens of the people, thus joining the people DepEd sought to save in the first place—letting the country be left to die and shackled to indigency.

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