

57

Human Rights and Peace Education
to Strengthen Tri-People Relations
in Southern Philippines
Nymia Pimentel Simbulan and Rhoda ViajarT

he ending of the Marcos dictatorship in the Philippines in February 1986changed the political landscape of the country. Not only were so-called
democratic processes, political structures and mechanisms (like free elections,
independent legislature) and free mass media re-established, civil and political rights
and freedoms were likewise restored.
reinforced by the related initiatives of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR), a national
human rights institution created by the 1987
Philippine Constitution.
The then Department of Education, Culture
and Sports [now Department of Education(DepEd)] and CHR adopted a Joint Declaration of Understanding in 1992 and signed a
Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) in 1996 todevelop educational materials on the integrationof human rights education into the primary andsecondary school curriculums (CHR, Education and Research Office). This collaboration
included the development of human rights
teaching exemplars or modules, and humanrights education facilitators’ manual, or teachingaids for teacher trainers.
However, despite these positive steps towardmainstreaming human rights education into
the primary and secondary school curriculums,
much remains to be accomplished in view of
the current state of human rights education in
the Philippine public school system. After morethan a decade since EO 27, most public schools
have not yet integrated human rights and peace

Learning from the unforgettable experiencesof the Filipino people during the dark years ofthe martial law period, then President Corazon C. Aquino led the nation in the call that“never again” would it allow the restoration of
dictatorial rule in the country that was marredby massive and gross human rights violations.
Thus, barely four months after the overthrowof the Marcos dictatorship, President Aquino
issued on 4 July 1986 Executive Order No.
27: Education to Maximize Respect for Human
Rights (EO 27) mandating the integration ofhuman rights into the curriculums of all levelsof educational and training institutions in the
country. The executive fiat also authorized thedevelopment and publication of materials andtextbooks to popularize human rights concepts
and principles in schools and colleges.
The issuance of EO 27 was among theinitial measures taken during the post-martial
law period to raise people’s knowledge andunderstanding of human rights, and stress theirimportance in everyday life. For the student andyouth sectors, the inclusion of human rights
in the school curriculums at various levels was57

58  HUMAN RIGHTS EDUCATION IN ASIAN SCHOOLS

education into their curriculums. Several factors
are responsible for this weakness, namely:•	Lackluster attitude, if not lack of awareness,of public school officials and teachers on
the State’s obligation to popularize humanrights and peace education•	Lack of knowledge and skills among publicschool teachers in incorporating humanrights and peace education into the curriculum and in employing participatory andcreative pedagogies, and•	Lack of resources within the government toproduce human rights and peace educationteaching materials.
While both non-governmental organizations(NGOs) and government have embarked onhuman rights education programs, much work
has to be done to strengthen the capabilities of
educators who constitute an important pillar
in the educational system. Cognizant of the
problems and needs to effectively integrate human rights and peace education into the school
curriculums, the Philippine Human Rights
Information Center (PhilRights) embarked ona teacher-training project on the integration ofhuman rights and peace education into the public secondary school curriculums. PhilRights,
an NGO actively involved in human rights research, education and training activities among
various sectors of Philippine society since 1991,
viewed the project as a contribution to theefforts of civil society groups in popularizing
human rights and peace concepts, principles
and approaches, starting with the formal school
system. It also envisioned the project as an effort
to establish understanding and harmonize relationships between the indigenous peoples, theChristians and Muslims (so-called tri-people)of Mindanao particularly in those areas that
historically have been the sites of conflict.

PhilRights Teacher Training ProjectWith funding support from the UnitedStates Institute for Peace (USIP) for the 20052006 period, the PhilRights initiative underscored the important role of formal education in
advocating peace and human rights, particularly
the promotion of values of respect, non-discrimination, and social and community involvement among young people. It was intended tocontribute to existing human rights and peaceeducation efforts by developing creative andinnovative pedagogies, which could be utilized
by secondary school teachers.
The project was particularly significant in
Mindanao (the second biggest island of the Philippines) where it was implemented on accountof the tri-people character of its population. The
island is the home of Muslims (Maguindanaon,
Taosug, Iranun and Maranao), indigenous
groups (B’laan, Manobo, Bagobo and Teduray),and Christian settlers. The indigenous groups
are referred to as Lumads.
Mindanao, particularly in areas dominatedby Islamized population, has a long history of
struggle against various forms of discrimination, deprivation, and economic exploitation of
its rich natural resources. The conflict between
Christian and Muslim groups has evolved into
a prolonged armed confrontation that left theLumads caught in-between. The Lumads havebeen exploited and oppressed by Christian government officials, warlords and big landlords.
The absence of peace in the Islamized partsof Mindanao has worsened Christian-Muslim
relations that already suffer from suspicion andanimosity.
Given such a situation, the project wasenvisioned as a cultural tool to help alleviate
the antagonistic perceptions and attitudes ofMuslims, Christians and Lumads toward eachother. By popularizing human rights and peaceeducation through the formal school system,
relationships between the tri-people populationof Mindanao might change and improve.
The international community during theVienna World Conference on Human Rights
in 1993 recognized “that human rights, training and public information were essential forHuman Rights and Peace Education - Philippines  59

the promotion and achievement of stable andharmonious relations among communities andfor fostering mutual understanding, tolerance
and peace” (Article 78, Vienna Declaration
and Program of Action). Moreover, the United
Nations (UN) underscored the value of humanrights and peace education as “an instrument
for conflict prevention and the prevention ofhuman rights violations, as well as a contribution to peaceful post-conflict transformationand consolidation, and is thus a key factor forachieving human security” (UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, 2000).
In this context, the PhilRights’ project aimed
to realize the following specific objectives:
1.		To develop a teacher training module on theinfusion of human rights and peace education in the formal education curriculum of
public secondary schools, and
2.		To enhance the capability of public secondary school teachers to implement thedesigned modules.
The project aimed to benefit secondary
school teachers in two provinces in Mindanao.
The provinces of North Cotabato and Maguindanao were purposively chosen because of thefollowing reasons:
1.		They have been historically the sites of armed
conflict between the Philippine government
and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front(MILF), and
2.		They have a substantial presence of the tripeople population.
The teacher participants were selected on thebasis of the following criteria:
1. Basic knowledge on human rights and peace
concepts
2.	With at least two years teaching experiencein a public school setting
3. Familiarity with the religious and culturaldynamics in his/her community, and
4. Capability and commitment to develop andimplement pedagogies on human rights andpeace.

Project activities
The project was implemented in several
phases; namely:

a. Initial phase
At the initial phase of the project, PhilRights
held consultation meetings with NGOs in Metro
Manila and Mindanao. This resulted in getting
the Institute for Peace and Development Studies (IPDS) of the Southern Christian College
in Midsayap, Cotabato province, and the officesof the Department of Education (DepEd) in
the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao(ARMM) and Region 12 as project partners.
The PhilRights project team visited four
public secondary schools in the provinces ofNorth Cotabato and Maguindanao, and met
with the principals and teachers to introduce
the project. The project team also held meetings with NGOs in the region (e.g., Task Force
Detainees of the Philippines (TFDP), Notre
Dame University Peace Institute, Associationof Major Religious Superiors in the Philippines(AMRSP) and the Institute of Bangsamoro
Studies) and received their support for the
project.
Several regional government offices wereinvolved in the project such as the Office ofSouthern Cultural Communities (OSCC)
in Cotabato City, the Bureau of Secondary
Education, Department of Education in theAutonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao(ARMM) Division, and Department of Education – Region 12 Division. At the national level,
the project team consulted with officials of the
Department of Education central office.

b. Module Development
The training modules were developed usingmaterials from local NGOs, the offices of the
Department of Education, and human rights
organizations. They were revised four times

60  HUMAN RIGHTS EDUCATION IN ASIAN SCHOOLS

to integrate the suggestions and improvementsfrom each of the trainings held.

c. Teacher Training
The draft teacher training modules were
tested with a group of twelve teachers from five
public secondary schools in Metro Manila. The
module testing was assisted by the Alliance ofConcerned Teachers of the Philippines (ACTPhilippines1), a nationwide NGO composedof public school teachers. The experiences andfeedbacks generated from the test activity wereincorporated in the training modules used intraining two batches of trainees composed ofteachers and school administrators/principals
from the provinces of Maguindanao and North
Cotabato.
The first batch of trainees consisted offorty-seven teachers and school administrators
representing fourteen public secondary schools
in the Province of Maguindanao, while the second batch consisted of thirty-five teachers andadministrators coming from twenty-three public
secondary schools in North Cotabato.
The two trainings were held on 18-22 August 2005 (first batch) and 25-30 November
2005 (second batch) respectively. Each batch
received a five-day training held in lively andparticipatory manner utilizing creative pedagogies such as lecture-discussions, role-play,
problem-tree construction, dance and songgroup dynamics, poem composition, local andindigenous ice-breakers/games, etc. Participants
provided feedback and comments at the end ofeach training day.
Although the participants of the two trainings represented the tri-people population, thedominance of the Muslim and Christian teachertrainees was highly observable.
The training consisted of the following ten
modules/lessons:
Module 1:
Preliminaries - Ice-breakers,
Introductions, Expectations Check,
Overview of the Training

Module 2: Visioning - Exercises that set thetone for the activities and discussions onhuman rights and peace
Module 3:
Situationer - An overview of
the trends and situations on issues andthemes concerning human rights andpeace at the global, national and local
contexts
Module 4: Understanding Human Rights– Discussions on human rights, its principles and fundamental concepts, specificsets of rights (civil and political rights;
economic, social and cultural rights; religious rights; indigenous people’s rights);
human rights violations and remedies
Modules 5: Understanding Conflict – Discussion on definitions, forms, causes
and effects of conflict in general and the
Mindanao conflict and gender-based
violence in particular
Module 6: Understanding Peace – Discussion on perspectives and approaches topeace and conflict strategies for conflict
resolution, conflict management
Module 7:
Locating Human Rights andPeace in Secondary Education (curriculum, school environment/space, extracurricular activities, community)
Module 8:
Integration – Discussion onthematic and integrated approaches inteaching and learning
Module 9:
Sample Integration Modules
on Various Subjects
Module 10: Practicum – Drafting and execution of lesson plans.
Each session/topic in the module involved
activities such as singing, dancing, physicalmovements, and visual aids that encouraged
creativity, free expression and interaction.
Participants also shared their own teaching
methods. There were also inputs and lecturesfrom resource persons and discussions were
further enriched by the participants’ own views,
knowledge and insights. The main points weresynthesized in the discussion of each topic.

Human Rights and Peace Education - Philippines  61

There were resource speakers in the training
in addition to the main facilitators from the
PhilRights’ project team. The resource speakers discussed a number of topics such as: Human Rights Concepts and the Various Human
Rights Instruments, Concepts and Theories on
Conflict and Peace, Historical Roots of Conflictin Mindanao, Locating Human Rights andPeace in the Secondary Education Curriculum,
and Theories and Methods on Human Rights
and Peace Integration.
Evening sessions consisted of culturalpresentations prepared and performed by theparticipants themselves. Participants weregrouped according to their ethnicity (Lumad,
Moro, migrant settler). Their presentations
and performances illustrated their respective
customs and traditions. These evening sessions
were intended to provide expressions for cultural exchange as well as to foster camaraderie
among the participants.
The last two days of the training weredevoted to understanding the concept of theintegration approach, developing lesson plansand preparing for the practicum. Teacherparticipants, who were grouped according tosubjects they taught in their respective schools,
held team or collective teaching using the lesson plans they developed with the students ofpre-selected schools. Through the practicum,
the teacher-participants applied integration
techniques. They said that the practicum madethem realize that human rights and peace education integration into the secondary school curriculums was not difficult to do. This signified achange in their views and attitudes regarding thehuman rights and peace education integration.
At the start of the trainings, many teacher-participants expressed reservations about the entire
training exercise. They thought human rights
and peace education integration would be an
additional burden on their responsibilities asteachers and that it would require much of theirteaching time. Others also had the idea that human rights and peace should be taught only in
Araling Panlipunan (Social Studies) and Values

Education subjects. They were not yet able toimagine how human rights and peace could
be taught in other subjects like Mathematics,
Biology, and Physics.
However, as the training progressed using
participatory methodologies and discussions on
the various concepts and topics, the teacher-participants were enlightened on the importance ofincorporating human rights and peace into theirsubjects. They became aware and appreciativeof the various ways and techniques on how human rights and peace could be integrated into
their teaching. At the end of the training, manyteacher-participants gave positive feedback on
the training as they expressed how the training
provided them with knowledge and skills of
becoming more effective teachers and helping
them establish better relations with their coteachers and students.
On content, the teacher-participants wereclarified on the concepts of human rights. For
instance, the prevailing view was that humanrights simply referred to each person’s naturalrights. The trainors emphasized that humanrights were legal entitlements based on international and domestic laws. It had to be stressedthat human rights were legally based on agreements or treaties signed by various States thatconsequently acquire the obligation to respect,
protect and fulfill the rights in these legal instruments. The trainors saw it appropriate to highlight these concepts in order to point out thathuman rights violations are acts of States, notprivate entities and private individuals, against
their citizens. Especially in the context of war
where even innocent people were affected, it
was important that the State’s position and rolevis-à-vis human rights were clarified.
At the end of the training, initial plans
were drawn up. The participants committed tosubmitting progress reports and participatingin the focus group discussions (FGDs) and the
Teachers’ Colloquium. There were also ideas on
how they could maintain their network for further exchange of ideas to improve their teaching
methods. They also signified that they would62  HUMAN RIGHTS EDUCATION IN ASIAN SCHOOLS

take steps to get the support of their peers andsupervisors on human rights and peace education integration.

d. Focused Group Discussions
As a follow-up to the trainings, eight focus
group discussions (FGDs) were held, four
FGDs in each project site for a select group ofteacher-trainees, and another four for secondary
school students of the teachers who integrated
human rights and peace in the subjects theytaught.
The FGDs validated the implementation ofhuman rights and peace education integrationplans of the teacher-participants and substantively discussed evaluation points. The discussions reviewed the experiences in integrating
human rights and peace education in learning
situations within subjects and in school activities; the effects of the integration on the knowledge, skills and attitudes of individual students
and teachers in and out of the school – particularly on how the integration has contributed
to achieving peace; and enabling and disabling
factors in the integration of human rights andpeace education into the curriculum.
The FGDs revealed that teachers were able
to incorporate human rights like the right tolife, right to health, etc. and peace in subjects
like Music, Arts, Physical Education and Health(MAPEH), Science, Values Education, Araling
Panlipunan (Social Studies) and Economics. A
whole range of subject matters or topics wascovered and linked to the concepts of humanrights and peace. These included topics on theSecond World War, Exploration and Conquest,
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, Consumerism,
Entrepreneurship, Sports and Dances, Ecosystem and Pollution. Teachers integrated humanrights and peace education into the school curriculum by discussing human rights and peacein relation to topics in the subjects as well as toeveryday life and issues.
For example, in emphasizing teamwork
among the students, the class discussed dis-

crimination and ways to eliminate racism,
ageism, and sexism. Also, in a Science class,
the teacher integrated human rights and peacein her discussion of the relationship of animals(i.e., mutualism and predation) by posing thequestion: What are the characteristics of apredator that are possessed by humans? This
led to a discussion of oppression and violationsof human rights.
Aside from these, there were also topics in
Araling Panlipunan (Social Studies) that directly
dealt with human rights and peace. The topics
included the Bill of Rights, Consumer Rights,
Civil Rights and People’s Freedoms and historyof conflict among nations.
In terms of effect of the integration approachon the students, the FGD participants reported
a higher level of respect among students who
have undergone classes that discussed humanrights and peace. There was greater awarenessof the rights of others regardless of their ethnicity and identity.
The FGD participants reported that students
who used to mock the Teduray (an indigenous
tribe in Mindanao) students have changed their
negative attitude. This happened to a group of
students who usually made fun of a Teduray
student by mimicking the way she spoke. A
member of the group who sat in a class where
human rights and peace was discussed reprimanded her friends and reminded them thateveryone was equal in rights and they should
respect the rights of others. The FGD participants claimed that since the integration classes
started, discrimination against the Tedurays waslessened and that the Teduray students havebeen given the chance to mingle and speak out
their minds.
The FGD participants also reported thatthe students, in general, have become more
confident in sharing their ideas after learning
their rights and experiencing encouragement
to participate in class activities.
As to the conditions that facilitated theintegration of human rights and peace education into the curriculum, the FGD participantsHuman Rights and Peace Education - Philippines  63

cited the existence of conflict in their area that
affected their schools, and the fact that students
could relate to human rights and peace. The
tri-people population of the schools also madeit easier for students to understand the concepts
and principles of human rights and peace.
Another enabling factor was the presence ofteachers who participated in the human rights
and peace integration training, and who employed additional knowledge on human rights
and peace, and skills in using the integration
approach.
The support of other stakeholders such as themunicipal mayor as well as DepEd officials andschool principals was also important. In anothercase, the existence of a voluntary organizationthat helped students do activities on community
development was cited as another enabling factor. The organization itself promoted peace andhuman rights as a medium for cooperation andunity among members of the community.
In terms of disabling factors, the FGD
participants identified the following: poor
learning competence of some students, lack ofschool facilities, parents’ traditional upbringing
of their children, time constraints for teachers
who also engage in various tasks aside fromteaching, additional work of preparing lessonplans, lack of support from school principals,presence of gangs, teachers who are not awareof the human rights and peace education integration approach.

e. Collection of Progress Reports
Aside from the FGDs, the teacher-trainees
were asked to submit progress reports to monitor developments in the application of what they
have learned during the training and to share
their experiences, lessons learned and insights
on the integration of human rights and peaceeducation in their schools.
Out of the total eighty-two teacher-trainees, about thirty percent complied with thesubmission of the progress reports, an indication of the seriousness and commitment of theteachers to human rights and peace education
integration.
The progress report focused on 1) factors
and conditions that facilitated the teaching of
human rights and peace in their subjects; 2) lessons learned and insights on the experience; 3)difficulties and problems encountered; 4) ways
in which human rights and peace education integration could be strengthened and improved,
and 5) necessary support from DepEd.
Following are the summary of responses
under each category:
I. Reasons and/or factors cited by the teachertrainees for the easy integration of humanrights and peace in their subjects:•	Direct connection of human rights andpeace to subject matters discussed insubjects such as Araling Panlipunan,
Filipino, and Values Education• For other subjects, relationship of humanrights and peace to everyday life as wellas the realities in the community. Humanrights violations and the absence of peace
were real experiences in the communities
where the students live.
• Awareness of students on the conditions
that reinforce the stereotypical images ofMuslims, Lumads and Christian settlers
as well as the apparent deprivation anddisempowerment of various groups•	Existence of textbooks and reference materials that enable teachers to gain more
knowledge on human rights and peace,and equip them to apply the humanrights and peace education integration
approach in the classroom.
II. Lessons learned and insights:• The application of creative methodologies such as use of action songs make thestudents become interested in the subject
matter•	Enriched understanding of human rights
and peace among teachers and their64  HUMAN RIGHTS EDUCATION IN ASIAN SCHOOLS

practice in daily life are important•	While revision of lesson plans initiallyposed difficulty in teaching human rights
and peace in the subjects, it is overcome
when teachers notice the positive effects
of teaching human rights and peace on
the attitude of students towards learning as well as their behavior towards
their schoolmates (more participativein class and show more respect towards
classmates).
III. Difficulties encountered :• Being “neophytes” in terms of teaching
human rights and peace, the teachers
found it hard to manage big classes aswell as discuss in-depth the issues related
to human rights and peace• In subjects other than Araling Panlipunan (e.g., Mathematics and Science), theintroduction of human rights and peaceelicited more questions on social issues
than the content of the subjects• Integration of human rights and peace
into the subject tended to prolong theclass discussion and delayed the discussion of other subject matters/topics inthe curriculum•	Non-participation of some students•	Lack of reference materials on humanrights and peace•	Lack of facilities.
IV. Recommendations:•	Develop a manual or guidebook forteachers containing lesson plans that they
can apply in the classrooms• Provide more trainings and seminars, andforums on human rights and peace•	Develop the teachers’ commitment topursue human rights and peace education
integration into the curriculum.
V. Support needed from the DepEd:• Provide more training on the integrationof human rights and peace education into
the school curriculum• Adopt the human rights and peace education integration approach not only in
Social Studies but also in other subjects• Provide reference materials such as
books, pamphlets and brochures on human rights and peace• Conduct inter-school activities that encourage students and teachers to learn
more about human rights and peace.

f. Educators’ Conference/Colloquium
An Educators’ Conference/Colloquium washeld on 22-23 May 2005 at the Southern Christian College, North Cotabato as the culminating
activity of the teacher-training project. With thetheme, “Karapatan at Kapayapaan sa Aming
Paaralan: Paghahabi ng Karanasan” (Human
Rights and Peace in Our Schools: Weaving
our Experiences), the conference was attended
by fourteen teachers and school administratorsfrom the participating schools in Maguindanao
and North Cotabato.
The conference aimed:
1) To provide a venue for sharing and exchangeof experiences in integrating human rights
and peace education in various areas of theschool curriculum2) To assess the effects/impact of the trainings
on Human Rights and Peace Integration
3) To gather feedback on the Training of Trainers Guidebook/Manual, and
4) To generate ideas on how to move forward.
Through workshops, the participants
discussed the lessons learned and insights on
integration of human rights and peace education into the school curriculum. Workshop 1
focused on questions regarding “discoveries” ontheir subject matter as well as human rights andpeace, the impact on their students in terms of
the learning of the subjects as well as their rela-Human Rights and Peace Education - Philippines  65

tion with their teachers and fellow students.
Workshop 2 focused on questions regarding
good examples of effective links between andamong the subjects, peace and human rights
and feedback on how to improve the training
manual.
Workshop 3 tackled effective methodologies/approaches/techniques in teaching humanrights and peace within the subjects. Workshops
4 and 5 concentrated on the teachers’ recommendations based on their experience in termsof teacher training and education as well as
support from school administrators and Department of Education officials.
Below is a summary of the results of the
Teachers’ Colloquium as well as the other project activities:
I. Highlights and Key Lessons• Integrating Human Rights and Peace inteaching the subject(s) facilitates learning;making the subject(s) more relevant to the
day-to-day life of the students•	Effective practice of Human Rights andPeace Education necessitates mastery of thesubject(s) and in-depth understanding of theconcepts of peace and human rights on thepart of teachers• Use of vernacular or local dialect/s in classdiscussions enables more students to participate• The effectiveness of the integration approachalso depends on the teaching strategy/strategies employed of the teachers• Integrating human rights and peace education into the school curriculum requiresa paradigm shift/renewal in terms of howteachers view their subjects, students, teaching strategies and themselves as persons.
II. Best Practices Focusing on Content• Human rights and peace are inherently related to the social sciences. Integrating theminto the Araling Panlipunan (Social Studies)
subject is easy
• Integrating human rights and peace in othersubject areas like Mathematics and Scienceis possible though not always explicit or
obvious• Integrating human rights and peace insubjects other than Social Sciences can befacilitated by using metaphors/symbolisms/parallelisms for topics related to humanrights and peace• Thinking-outside-the-box or expanding
imagination and creativity facilitates theidentification of connections between andamong the subjects taught and human rights
and peace• There is a need to access various available
resources on human rights and peace andeven the subjects taught• There is also a need to develop new resourcesthat can aid in the integration of humanrights and peace into the various subject
areas• There are different views regarding curricularreform© The current curriculum needs further
tests regarding its effectiveness in integrating human rights and peace into thevarious subject areas© Human rights and peace can be emphasized by teaching them as units/topics
in Araling Panlipunan (Social Studies)
subject© Human rights and peace can be treatedas a separate subject.
III. Pedagogical Discoveries/Insights on
Strategies• There is no singular formula in teaching
human rights and peace in various subject
areas• There are many teaching strategies that canbe used for this purpose• The choice of strategy/strategies is criticaland influenced by the context of the teacher,
students, learning environment and surrounding conditions.
IV. Methodological Entry Points of Human66  HUMAN RIGHTS EDUCATION IN ASIAN SCHOOLS

Rights and Peace Education Integration• As an ethical principle of teaching andlearning, i.e., teaching and learning in anenvironment where peace and respect for
the human rights of all (students, teachers,
non-academic staff, etc.) are the dominant
norms• As a relational framework to link lesson to
everyday life
• As a point for analysis, reflection and application of the topic under study• As a selection guide in choosing appropriate
strategy• As an example to illustrate points being
discussed• As a context to constantly ground theoreticallearning to practical learning.

lation. An advanced course focusing on childrights and more in-depth discussion of otherhuman rights issues and standards will also be
implemented once funding is secured.
At the same time, PhilRights will disseminate the Training of Trainors Guidebook titled“On Integrating Peace and Human Rights in
Secondary Education: Towards Strengthening
Lumad, Moro and Christian Settler Relations”
to various schools, teachers and principals.
PhilRights will continue to lobby the DepEd
to strengthen human rights and peace education
integration into the public secondary school
curriculum. A memorandum from the DepEd’s
Division Superintendents supporting efforts
promoting human rights and peace education
integration can be secured for this purpose.

Conclusion

References

The project activities undertaken reinforced
the importance of human rights and peaceeducation integration into the school curriculum and the crucial role of teachers and school
administrators in implementing it. The interest
generated from the teachers as evidenced bytheir positive feedback on the way the trainings
were handled was inspiring for PhilRights. The
entire exercise made the participants and PhilRights realize that they can contribute to thepromotion of a human rights culture not onlyin the schools but also in the community.
The project validated the view that the integration approach can be made possible at thesecondary level and even in subjects outside theSocial Sciences. Human rights and peace neednot be compartmentalized as a subject matter.
Integration can be made more interesting using
various teaching methodologies and techniquesthat aid in the learning of the subject matter aswell as human rights and peace.
The reported impact on the students andteachers was also stimulating to the extent that
PhilRights plans to replicate the project activities in other conflict sites with tri-people popu-

Commission on Human Rights of the Philippines,
Human Rights Education Teaching Exemplars in
www.chr.gov.ph/MAIN%20PAGES/services/hr_
promo1_ero.htm#ero (Accessed: 2 November
2007)
1987 Philippine Constitution. http://www.chanrobles.
com/philsupremelaw2.html (Accessed: 1 November 2007)
United Nations High Commissioner for Human
Rights. 2000. Report of the United Nations HighCommissioner for Human Rights on the mid-term
global evaluation of the progress made towards theachievement of the objectives of the United Nations
Decade for Human Rights Education (1995-2004).
UNGA A/55/360 (7 September 2000).

Endnote1
ACT Philippines changed its name to Teachersand Employees Association for Change, Education
Reforms and Solidarity (TEACHERS, Inc.) in mid2007.