Education, culture and sports and Education Week

CULTURAL NOTES

Richard Kinnud

The mention of education, culture and sports in one time would probably ring a bell to those who like me have been to school in the nineties and earlier.  The agency that has the primary mandate to formulate, implement, and coordinate education programs in the country has been known as the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports (MECS) and later the Department of Education, Culture and Sports (DECS).  Now, it is named as the Department of Education (DepEd).
    The change may give the wrong impression that that the country’s educational programs would have nothing to do with culture and sports.  But looking at it closely, the intention law, RA 9155 or the Governance of Basic Education Act of 2001, that renamed the department did not exclude culture and sports from education.  It may have caused changes in certain governance issues such as the transfer of certain cultural agencies such as the Komisyon ng Wikang Filipino and National Historical Institute among others as attached agencies to the National Commission on Culture and the Arts and the abolition of the Bureau of Physical Education and School Sports, then a unit of DECS promoting sports and fitness in the schools.  The law is clear that arts and culture, and sports and physical fitness shall remain part of the basic education curriculum.
    It has always been held that education has role on culture.  It could be on the preservation and transmission of it, or of capacitating learners to suit to changes, or maybe even a channel of change.  Likewise with sports and physical fitness.  Education makes learners aware on developing physical activity habits and thus let them foster lifelong healthy habits.   It has always been pointed out that physical and sports education will help an individual in more complex activities in life.
    These roles on culture and sports and certainly in forming an individual are some of the contributions of education to society.  Certainly, these are worth highlighting and celebrating.    And this was the rationale of a presidential proclamation declaring every second week of December as Education Week.  The proclamation’s dispositive clause says the week is to “recognize the objectives, programs and accomplishments of the education system and to honor and recognize the roles and contributions of public and private school teachers and education support personnel.”  It thus mandates appropriate activities to be undertaken in connection to the said declaration.   In consonance to the proclamation, Education Week is in the school calendar of the DepEd.
    My observation though is that the observance of Education Week is not a well-known one.  I tried to remember if there were some notable activities in my elementary and high school days but I cannot recall any.  I asked some learners and teachers and their response was something like “What about that?”  It is unlike the celebration of Teacher’s Day or Teacher’s Month wherein several activities are prominent to include cultural and sports competition among teachers.
    It could be because it was muted by other goings-on.  There is the celebration of Christmas or as other’s call it, the Holidays.  How this would be celebrated in schools and particularly in the classroom is a popular discussion vis-à-vis the memos and orders from authorities on how should be celebrated.  Also, both learners and teachers are excited about the school break, how they would spend it and where.  So if there is room to discuss about the celebration of an Education Week, it would be too little.

\Still, this corner would like to greet readers in relation to Education Week.  May the little room we have for it transform into huge reflection on the gigantic role of education to society.  Especially for those in the educational arena, may they never hesitate on their role particularly in transforming individuals to better lives and communities in general particularly in their parts on culture and sports..