AN EDUCATOR and political scientist has urged the Department of Education (DepEd) to give importance to teaching students about the country’s dark past.
In a forum to commemorate the 37th anniversary of the Edsa People Power Revolution, Dr. Temario Rivera, a former professor of political science at the University of the Philippines Diliman, said teaching history in schools should be a continuous effort, especially after the amendments in the educational system when the K to 12 curriculum was implemented.
Rivera said changes to the educational curriculum in the past decades have sidelined the teaching of history, especially those involving the country’s dark past.
He hopes that DepEd, under Vice President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte, would continue giving importance to the teaching of history.
Aside from Rivera, retired Regional Trial Court Judge Meinrado Paredes, who survived martial law, said there is still a need to continue celebrating what happened at Edsa.
Paredes, one of the panelists at the forum, recalled his experience as a martial law detainee.
He said Edsa was not only a simple event but was “the culmination of the long struggle of the people against authoritarianism and fascism.”
He also emphasized the importance of the youth’s role in keeping the Edsa values alive.
The forum was organized by the Panaghugpong sa mga Akademiko, Magtutudlo ug Intelektwal nga Sugboanon para sa Akademikong Kagawasan ug Tinuod nga Representasyon sa Kasaysayan (Paminsar), an educational research center which seeks to counter historical revisionism.