Abstract

Following the normative-descriptive type of research using a semi-census survey, this study gathered information on the profile of school-going children of Baguingey Elementary School. It also utilized document scanning and analyses of grade reports to describe the academic performance of school children. Based on findings of the study, the study formulated an Assistance Program for the school children and their families. Findings of the study revealed that majority of the school children spoke Ayangan, who were enrolled from grades 1 to 6, and affiliated with Union Espiritista and Born Again. The parents of the learners were in their middle adulthood. The mothers were younger than their fathers and they had big number of children to look after their needs. Most had nuclear families and followed the patrilocal type of residence, a big majority of the heads of families either finished elementary or no schooling completed. The study concluded that the Ayangan children were in need of assistance to be able to finish their education as gleaned from the profile. Government, NGOs and private sponsored – projects were seen as vital in enhancing their opportunities in life. Since about 97% are Ayangan, the integration of indigenous peoples’ education also helped in preserving, protecting and promoting relevant indigenous knowledge, systems and practices to sustain cultural life. Today’s generation of Ayangan learners at Baguingey Elementary School exhibited opportunities to grow or enhance themselves through education. They were good academically and could exhibit greater chances to succeed but much needed educational support was called for, including economic support for their families. The proposed infrastructure projects like paving and widening of roads, school building construction, livelihood trainings for mothers and feeding program were seen as important activities since they were need-based and rights-based in as far as the approach of community-based programs and projects were concerned.

1. Introduction

The center piece of a democratic nation is prosperity derived from a sound human relationship. The Philippine National Hero, Dr. Jose Rizal has said that man is a masterpiece of God’s creation, perfect within his conditions, who cannot be deprived of any of his components, moral as well as physical, without disfiguring him and making him miserable ¹. It is also mentioned by the national hero that the youth is the hope of our future when he envisioned that the young generation will be the future leaders.

In line with his visionary works and writings, the 1987 Constitution secures the right to education of every Filipino. It states that the state shall protect and promote the right of all citizens to quality education at all levels and shall take appropriate steps to make education accessible to all ².

In the belief that education also involves financial aspects especially among the parents who send their children to study, the government has acknowledged their duty to free the Filipino people from poverty through policies that shall provide adequate social services, promote full employment, a rising standard of living, and an improved quality of life for all. Moreover, the Constitution provides that the state shall assign highest budgetary priority to the education sector ³.

However, even after years of implementating such policies, development can still be seen as vague from the perspective of those in the rural areas especially from those in the upland areas. This was affirmed by a study conducted by the World Bank ⁴. Accordingly, 70% in the upland areas are poor and are in dire need of assistance from local government units and from benevolent private and non-governmental organizations. ⁵ of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) also described the people in the upland areas to be poor farming families with insecure land tenure and insecure food source.

This was further affirmed by ⁵ who states that poor families in the upland are into agriculture because it is the only source available to engage with. Accordingly, about 88% of all those poor families consume all of the rice they produce and do not have a marketable surplus for themselves to meet basic necessities like a better shelter, extra garments, health and medication, savings for emrgency, including the everyday needs of their school-going children.

In the perspective of people in the remote areas, development itself has failed to offer answers to human suffering and disadvantage and to realize its promise to make the less privileged people better off eventually. Regional differences in living standards and immobility can still be perceived through its clear picture of geographic disparities. Upland tribal groups live mostly in remote rural areas due to lower living standards, and these inequalities in levels of living are due to the fact that they reside in less productive areas with poor infrastructure, difficult terrain, less access to market economy and industrial work and inferior access to education ⁷. Moreover, in many instances, upland tribal groups whether living in developed or developing countries are disadvantaged with regard to digital information access, literacy and other skills necessary for effective utilization of Information Communication Technology (ICT) ⁸.

Recently, the Philippine government introduced its 2040 goal also known as “Ambisyon Natin 2040”. The said goal states that by 2040, all Filipinos enjoy a stable comfortable lifestyle, secure in the knowledge that we have enough for our daily needs and unexpected expenses that we can plan and prepare for our own future and that of our children. Our family lives together in a place of our own, and we have the freedom to go where we desire, protected and enable a clean, efficient, and fair government” ⁹. However, the researcher is in a quandary as to how far have the Philippines gone towards the goal of “Ambisyon Natin 2040”.

It can be noted that since time immemorial, administration after administration, the government continuously seek for a comprehensive approach to alleviate the quality of living that marginalized people experiences. The government, until now, spends billions of funds for programs that aims to eradicate poverty. Amidst all these, it can be observed that many Filipinos still suffer from poverty as an effect of being uneducated.

Educators, social scientists, and historians have identified explanations for poverty. First is the “war and armed conflicts” such as in the case of Marawi. The Marawi siege 2017 for example has left a devastating outcome for all people in the place – the elderly, adult and children, men and women, rich and poor, all of them were victims of one of the most violent sieges by an extremist group comparable or may be even greater than the Lanao and Maguindanao atrocities. The damage is even greater for children as they are not only able to feed themselves regularly, mourn the death of their deceased family members, but have to experience the psychological trauma that the war has brought them. They have to stop their schooling and have to constantly live in fear. Most of them rely now on the benevolence of other people to feed and clothe them and may be to help them regain self-confidence and start to hope for peace and order all over again in makeshift tents with very meager amenities.

Educators and social scientists articulate that these conflicts disrupt the current productive activities such as livelihood which serves as the main source of income of the people. Another factor is that the “political systems” established by local political elite with profit-motivated economic systems seemingly decrease opportunities for most people to earn enough to meet their basic needs. Another reason is that the inequitable distribution of wealth and resources which has been observed since colonial period favors the rich and those who have the capital. And lastly, environmental conditions. Some places are blessed with abundant resources while others have to suffer from lands that cannot even yield crops, and others have to suffer from over-utilization of resources such as destroyed coral reefs, over-logged forests, and over-consumption of such resources ¹⁰.

In the context of the the local government unit of Solano, the municipality is now recognized as a major growth center in Region 02 as evidenced by the influx of enterprises doing business in the locality coming from various places not only from neighboring municipalities but also those coming from the Region and Metro Manila. However, along this progressive picture of Solano, some people still do not benefit from this economic progress especially those in the upland areas. LGU Solano has 831 families as 4Ps beneficiaries. About 64 families are from Commonal, a barangay of Solano (Interview of Matias, 2018). This implies that there are still Solanoans left behind from the progress of the municipality particularly in rural areas like barangay Commonal of which a sitio called “Baguingey” is a part.

In pursuit of the country’s sustainable development goal, education plays a great role, not only in valuing cultural diversity, but also in promoting inclusive education that is based on the concept of social justice. Sustainable development aims to do away with social and economic inequalities for those who in the past have been deprived with these benefits from a democratic society ¹¹.

Having in mind the four core values of Marian Culture (excellence, innovation, communion and passion for mission) not to mention, the practical lessons inculcated to the researcher’s mind by the faculty members of Saint Mary’s University School of Graduate Studies, the researcher envisions to prove that millennials form a significant part in the realization of “Ambisyon Nation 2040.” Looking at it in the perspective of a young mind, development must start from the grass roots and outward. This development must satisfy the first level of need which is our biological need. An indicator of this development must translate it to the ability of families to provide the basic needs – nutritious foods, safe shelter, medication, sustainable livelihood and others.

Consequently, the researcher was challenged to conduct a worthwhile research endeavor taking the case of the school – going children of Baguingey Elementary School located at Baguingey, Barangay Commonal, Solano Nueva Vizcaya. Another important factor in the conduct of this study was that the researcher happened to be a young municipal legislator whose main concern is the youth’s welfare. As a millennial professional teacher, the researcher’s passion was to help combat the various challenges that face the current generation of youth who remained to be saddled by a lot of difficulties in their education.

The researcher found it important to come up with a substantial and research-based empirical data which would become the basis in urging and enticing benevolent private individuals and organizations, non-governmental and governmental agencies to deliver relevant support services that were due the young school children of Baguingey Elementary School.

In fulfilling such goal, a participatory profiling through a guided survey played a great role in obtaining important baseline information on the current situation of the children through the various demographic attributes of families in the research locale. Thus, a profiling was conducted to go beyond physical topographies depicted in traditional-style maps but to include social, and economic features, which could harness local knowledge and stimulate social change starting from the grass-roots level ^{12, 13, 14}; thus, this study.

This study generally aimed to describe and analyze some personal and demographic profile of the school children of Baguingey Elementary School as well as their academic performance for the formulation of a relevant assistance program. Specifically, it sought answers to the following objectives:

1. Describe the school children of Baguingey Elementary School in terms of the following characteristics:

1.1. Personal Profile

a. Ethnicity

b. Grade Level

c. Age

d. Religion

e. Sex

1.2. Demographic Profile

a. Father’s Age

b. Mother’s Age

c. No. of Children

d. Household Type

e. Type of Residence

f. Education of the Head of the Family

g. Type of School

h. Educational Access (Elem.)

i. Educational Access (HS)

j. College Access

k. Adequacy of Classrooms and Teachers

l. Efforts of Educational Institutions to educate the Learners based on One’s Culture

m. Top five reasons of heads of the families for not attending or finishing studies

n. Employment status

o. Employment type

p. Workplace description and year in the workplace

q. House Ownership

r. Monthly Income

s. Number of persons earning in the household

t. Information technology gadget usage

u. Health, sanitation and medical needs

v. Political affiliation and membership

w. Benefits or Assistance received

x. Ranking of priority for needed assistance

y. Trust in the government system

z. Participation in Cultural Rites and Religious Activities

2. Describe the academic performance of school children; and

3. Formulate an Assistance Program for the school children

A community in the sociological perspective, may be defined as a common bond by which people choose to associate around by reason of ethnicity, religious affiliation, interests, traditions, politics, class, work and others. The list is almost endless. Building a family profile of a community is an attempt to describe a particular community or neighborhood by using a variety of different techniques to build up a picture of the community from a number of perspectives. The purpose for doing a community profile can vary enormously but is normally orientated towards preparing the ground for an effective piece of community action. By listening to a community through doing a community profile any subsequent action is likely to be more rooted, more productive and more sympathetic to what is already going on. This depends on how the community profile is done, who owns it and how it is followed up through ¹⁵.

Family profiling involves building up a picture of the nature, needs and resources of families in a community with their active participation. It is a useful first stage in any community planning process to establish a context which is widely agreed. The maxim, “If you want to know how the shoe fits, ask the person who is wearing it, not the one who made it.” A range of methods are used to enable the community to develop an understanding of itself. The methods combine group working and group interaction techniques with data collection and presentation techniques. The focus is on methods which are visual in order to generate interest and make the process accessible even to the uneducated and those unused to verbal communication.

The study was rooted on the idea that the center of all movement in education is the learner. While the learners develop and are influenced by a social environment, the needs of the society are considered paramount taking into consideration that the society will best be served by the kind of mature and autonomous individual that the school attempt to develop ¹⁶.

In producing the ideal youth of the society, motivating the youth is one important influential factor that drives youth to struggle to reach their goals in the learning process ¹⁷. It is through education that one is empowered to interact in his community and realizes his worth, what he can do and eventually make him do things that contribute in the sustainable development of his community ¹⁸; thus, it is necessary to motivate the youth to do well in their academic life.

¹⁹ stated in his theory of motivation that people are motivated to achieve certain needs and that some needs take precedence over others. According to him, the most basic is physiological needs which includes air, food, water, shelter, sleep and clothing, and this will be the first thing that motivates one’s behavior. Once this level is fulfilled the next level up is what motivates us.

The second level of people’s needs is safety, security, and protection in which money – as a means of commerce - has a very important role. The third level is “love and belongingness needs” such as friendship, intimacy, trust, and love. And the fourth is “esteem needs” which Maslow classified into two categories: esteem for oneself (dignity, achievement, mastery, independence) and the desire for reputation or respect from others (e.g., status, prestige). And lastly, “self-actualization needs” – these include realizing personal potential, self-fulfilment, seeking personal growth and peak experiences.

In a radical perspective, the present society is now regarded as critically flawed, and these flaws should be determined to efficiently empower the young ones to effect radical change. These flaws may be identified by searching first the facts and accurate information that would give a background of the current situation ²⁰. ²¹ states that by determining the profile of school-going children, an accurate information can yield outstanding basis for designing a relevant assistance program.

2. Methodology

The study utilized the normative-descriptive type of research using a semi-census survey to gather information on the profile of school-going children of Baguingey Elementary School such as ethnicity, grade level, age, religion, sex, baptismal name of school children, permanent home address, parents’ names and birthdates, number of siblings, household family type, pattern of residence, educational history of head of the family and other – related characteristics such as type of school graduated from, educational opportunities, efforts from educational institution to integrate culture and ethnicity, reasons for dropping out from school, employment status, job classification, type of employer, description of present work, ownership of house, monthly income, technology use, community ICT use, health, sanitation and medical needs, political life and affiliation, educational prospects and religious life. As well, the study utilized document scanning and analyses of grade reports to describe the academic performance of school children. Based on findings of the study, the study formulated an Assistance Program for the school children.

The study was conducted within the political jurisdiction of LGU Solano, the commercial center and major job provider of the province of Nueva Vizcaya. The municipality, in terms of its natural topography, is relatively flat with slight hilly areas and mountain ranges in the northwestern and western portion as evidenced by its various slope categories. The flat areas having slope of 0 to 3% basically cover about 65.49% of the total area of the municipality and all the rest represents forests where only 7.75% however, is considered protected.

The largest barangay in terms of land area in the municipality is Barangay Commonal. It is also the barangay that comprise the largest portion of forest covered areas since the said barangay is entirely covered by forests. Nevertheless, the LGU does not consider Barangay Commonal to have a stagnant economic status. In the year 2010, a Mini Hydro-Electric Power Plant owned by Smithbell Corporation was built in Barangay Commonal and began its operations that consequently made the LGU’s revenue increase.

A school at the upper part of Barangay Commonal – specifically at Sitio Baguingey, was built to serve the upland tribal group. The school can be reached for about 40 minutes travel by means of vehicle from the Poblacion of Solano, and another 30 minute walk from the vehicle station of Sitio Bisang of Commonal to Baguingey Elementary School. Up to now, it is the only school in Solano that is made out of woods due to its inconvenient road facilities and far location. It could also be noted that teachers in the said school stay for only three years, more or less because of the condition of the place. Nevertheless, no matter how hard the situation is, the school takes great pride in maintaining a good rapport with their stakeholders and pupils. They continuously encouraged their students to complete the school year which resulted to a minimal number of dropouts. With their one hundred forty-two (142) pupils for the school year 2017-2018, there was only one (1) recorded as dropout due to psychological disorder.

The school children of Baguingey Elementary School were the respondents in this study, however, through a guided survey, the teachers were asked to serve as their guide in responding to the questionnaire. Later, the parents validated the information gathered from them and corrected some information. The profile characteristics of the children, including their families were presented in Chapter IV of this study.

The semi-census survey used in this study was patterned from an earlier survey crafted by Dacles and Del Rosario (2014) in their study entitled, “The Iwaks of Kayapa and Sta Fe: Coping in a Changing World.” Accordingly, said instrument was validated and approved by the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples and the National Commission on Culture and the Arts for an appropriated funding. Encompassing personal and socio-demographic information, education, health, religion, technology and political affiliation, this instrument were directly lifted with the approval of the authors.

After the proposal defense, integration of comments and suggestions of the panel members on the proposal papers was done in February 2018. Then finalization of research instruments ensued thereafter. After completion of the tool, writing of transmittal letter to the head teacher and submission of the same followed at Baguingey Elementary School. The floating of the instrument and retrieval of the same happened in the months of March with the guidance of the teachers. Meanwhile, gathering and scanning of pertinent academic records (grade reports) were done April 2018. Validation of data among the parents ensued in the same month. Immediately thereafter, interview of teachers and transcription of data were done in the month of April. Encoding and coding of raw data and SPSS works followed through the help of a statistician then writing of Chapters IV and V followed between the months of April - May of 2018.

In treating the gathered data, the following tools and techniques were used:

1. Computation of frequencies and percentages were used to describe the profile of the respondents;

2. Computation of means, standard deviations and ranking were used to describe the status of the children’s’ efforts at integrating IKSPs, health, education, information technology usage and benefits received. The qualitative descriptions were based on a four – point scale namely: mean scores from 1.00 - 1.49 - Not at all comfortable, not using, very minimal; 1.50 - 2.49 - not comfortable, seldom, minimal; 2.50 - 3.49 - somewhat comfortable, sometimes, moderate and from 3.50 - 4.00 - comfortable, always, great; and

3. The qualitative data was openly coded and treated thematically to arrive at similar attributes; and the inductive analytic technique of writing was used.

3. Results and Discussions

A. Personal Profile (Ethnicity, Grade Level, Age, Religion and Sex)

Table 1 shows some personal profile of the respondents.

In terms of ethnicity, about 97.7% were Ayangan, there was only one Tuwali and 2 mixed (Ayangan and Tuwali). In terms of grade level, Grade 1 comprised about 13.4%, Grade 2 had 20.2%, Grade 3 had 17.9%, Grade 4 had 14.9%, Grade 5 had 20.8% and Grade 6 had 12.8%. In terms of age, the youngest was six years while the oldest was 15 years old. The mean age was 10.5. There were 35% of pupils whose ages ranged from 6-8 years old, 49.3% from 9-11 years old and 15.7% were from 12 and above years old. In terms of religious affiliation, about 6% were members of the Church of God, 49.3% were Union Espiritista, 23.1% are Born Again, 6.7% were members of the Iglesia ni Kristo, 2,2% were Seventh Day Adventists and 12% were members of the Roman Catholic Church. About 56% were female learners and 44% were male learners.

It was evident that majority of the school children spoke Ayangan, and they were enrolled from grades 1 to 6. Majority of them were affiliated with Union Espiritista and Born Again, and were dominated by female learners.

B. Demographic Profile

For purposes of confidentiality, some demographic profile of the school children such as baptismal name, date of birth, home address, parents’ names and birth dates were included on Appendix B. These information were important to locate the parents and the children when an assistance could be provided to them in the future.

Meanwhile, Table 2 presents the school children’s profile of parents and heads of the family. The youngest father in terms of age was 28 while the oldest was 73. About 35% had fathers aged 46 and above years old, 33.6% were aged 37 to 45 years old and 31.4% were aged 37 years old and below.

The youngest mother was aged 26 while the oldest was 60. About 35.8% of the children’s mothers were 41 and above years old, 36.6% were aged 35 to 40 and 27.6% were 36 years old and below.

The minimum number of children wa one while the maximum was 9. About 29.8% of the children’s families had 1-3 children, 58.9% had 4-6 children and about 11.3% had 7 and above number of children.

In terms of household type, 2.2% of them had extended families while a big 97.8% had nuclear families consisting of the parents and the children. In terms of type of residence, 4.4% of the families of the children followed the bilocal (either the father or mother’s residence), 19.4% stayed in the hometown of their mothers or matrilocal and 76.2% stayed with the hometown of their fathers or patrilocal.

In terms of the education of the head of the family, which could either be the father or the mother and or any member of the family, only one had finished tertiary education, 3.7% finished high school, 41.1% finished elementary and a big 54.5% had no schooling completed.

In terms of type of school that the head of the family went through, 100 % enrolled at state-owned school like the Department of Education. In terms of the head of the families’ access to education during their time, 74.6% had elementary access, 93.3% stated no educational access in high school and 100% stated no college access during their time. In terms of adequacy of classrooms and presence of teachers at present, only about 68.7% each said they had adequate classrooms and sufficient number of teachers to look after their education.

From the results, it could be inferred that the parents of the learners were in their middle adulthood. The mothers were younger than the fathers in terms of age, and they had big number of children to look after their needs. Most had nuclear families and followed the patrilocal type of residence, a big majority of the heads of families either finished elementary or no schooling completed. They only had elementary access during their time and no college access, thus, many of them did not finish basic education. The pupils were also divided as to the adequacy of classrooms and number of teachers to cater to their educational needs. It could be inferred further that in spite of the country’s mandate to assign highest budgetary priority to education ³, many Filipinos in the past years experienced inadequate educational services.

Meanwhile, Table 3 shows the efforts done by educational institutions to incorporate lessons on culture in the education of the children.

As shown from the computed mean scores, they felt that educational institutions had little integration about indigenized curriculum (mean=2.09), lessons on cultural groups (mean=2.30), mother tongue –based instruction (mean=1.96), local history integration (mean=2.41) and exposure to one’s IKSPs (mean=2.24).

Clearly, it could be concluded that the learners at Baguingey Elementary School experienced little integration about indigenized curriculum primarily because only teacher Marianne D. Tuguinay was a member of Indigenous Cultural Community among the faculty members. Furthermore, all the faculty members, like teacher Marianne had already signified their intention to be re-assigned in another school that was nearer to their homes.

Additionally, information from the foregoing tables gave a clear picture as to what extent the Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act of 1997 was implemented. They had not yet experience their right to establish and control their educational systems and institutions by providing education in their own language, in a manner appropriate to their cultural methods of teaching and learning ²².

Table 4 presents the top-five reasons why some heads of the families during their time did not finish their schooling. The reasons were: no regular transportation only hiking (78.4%, rank 1); schools were very far (76.9%, rank 2); there was high cost of education (needed materials and projects) (59.0%, rank 3), lacked of interest (25.4%, rank 4) and they took care of their young siblings (14.9%, rank 5).

It could be gleaned from Table 5 that at present, the people from Baguingey still experienced inconvenience with the roads inspite of the fact that the LGU, through its Municipal Development Fund, allotted funds for the rehabilitation of road facilities (Municipal Development Officer of Solano, Interview of Mr. Gragasin, 2018).

Furthermore, it could be gleaned from the result that amidst all the assistance programs rendered by the LGU to their constituents such as Special Program for the Employment of Students, Institutionalization of ALS, and Solano Education Assistance Program (Sangguniang Bayan Office, 2017), many could not still afford to finish their studies.

Table 5 presents the information on the employment status of heads of the families. About 7.4% were employed for wages, 51.5% were looking for work, 30.6 were self-employed, 4.5% were jobless but not looking for work and 6% were housekeepers or homemakers. In terms of employment type, 83.6% were employed in either private farms, or homes, 6% in state-owned industries or local offices, 2.2% were employees in NGOs and 8.2% were self- employed in their swidden farms.

Currently, as a response to the food insecurity and low socio-economic status of some Solanoans, the local government unit gave its best to deliver support services to farmers as one of top producers of food that made Solano a Rice Achiever (an award given to LGUs that exemplified food sufficiency) in the entire country. Programs of the LGU included; provision of assorted vegetable seedlings to vegetable farmers, provision of organic fertilizer subsidy program to farmer beneficiaries (examples are Buy One Take One Bag Organic Fertilizer Scheme), technical skills training (like meat processing, papaya pickles, kamias prunes, polvoron, red egg and yema making) to farmers and farm service providers, anti-rabies mass vaccination and deworming of large animals and small ruminants and small and large vaccination (carabao, cow and goat, livestock BUB projects including farm machineries, and pig dispersals. In fact, the municipality allotted a large portion of available funds for the agricultural support services that promote food security (Municipal Agriculture Office, 2018). Barangay Commonal was one of its recipients.

At present, in terms of workplace description as shown on Table 6, the breadwinners were indulged in heavy physical labor (71.6%); presence of noise, dust, polluted air (43.3%); experienced work-related stress (time, pressure, concentration) (41.0%); they worried about job security (40.3%); had long working hours (40.3%); had shift work without night shift (31.3%); had shift work with night shift (14.9%) and always night shift (11.95).

In terms of number of years at work, about 55.9% had one year of stay, 35.8% had two months, and 7.5% had three months and only one with four months of stay at the current work. This would indicate that many of heads of families were just starting in their work or shift from one work to another.

It could be inferred from the table that despite the fact that the municipality of Solano had been dubbed as the commercial center and major job provider in the province of Nueva Vizcaya, many still did not have work or permanent jobs. This was affirmed through an interview shared by an LGU official (LGU Community Affairs Officer, Decoro, 2017).

Nevertheless, there was an existing LGU Ordinance titled; Investment Code of Solano which stated that under Section 17, business establishments were encouraged to provide employment to bonafide residents of Solano at least 80% of their labor requirement. With the said ordinance, such situation should have already been addressed subject to its extent of implementation. For now, the people of Baguingey still had to find their way to be integrated in this investment code.

In terms of house ownership as shown on Table 7, about 8.2% owned their house but with loans, 58.2% had their own homes, 8.2% were renting and 25.3% had occupied homes without paying. In terms of monthly income, 97.8% had incomes lower than Php7, 000. In terms of number of family members earning, 79% had single breadwinner while 20.1% had two family members who are earning. This meant that a big majority owned their houses, however, most if not all of them could hardly make both ends meet and were receiving below poverty line compensation as indicated by their monthly income. The data also showed that there were not enough family members who could help augment family income and were dependent on the heads of the families as sole breadwinners.

In terms of information technology gadget usage as shown on Table 8, the children were not comfortable in using IT gadget and they did not also use the internet. They had minimal knowledge on IT, computer and electronic communication. This could be explained by the fact that due to poverty, they could hardly buy or expose themselves to IT gadget, mobile phones or computer.

Table 9 also presents the families’ health, sanitation and medical needs. About 62.7% did not have water-sealed toilets and still used open-pit and 58.9% did not have good drainage system. About 59% stated that they did not have a garbage disposal system. In terms of presence of medical clinic, 61.2% stated they did have medical clinic, where 58.9% of them enjoyed free medical check-up, however, many of them seldom or sometimes availed of free medical check-ups when they had colds and cough (45.5%), skin allergy (2.2%), fever (33.3%), deworming (11.2%), dental (5.2%), and received free vitamins (2.2%).

The data revealed that the people in the area still made use of open pit toilets, did not have a good drainage and garbage disposal systems that could become sources of future health problems in the area. Although they availed of free medical check-ups, these were limited to treatments of colds and cough, skin allergy, fever, deworming and dental care.

Reflecting on the information provided on Table 10, apparently majority of the respondents were only enjoying the medical services that were provided by a Barangay Health Center which was manned by a Rural Health Midwife, Barangay Nutrition Scholar and Volunteer Health Workers (BHWs). Its main focus was more on preventive care.

The Rural Health Unit also offered services on maternal and child health, nutrition program, expanded program on immunization, prevention and control of communicable and non-communicable diseases, health education, family planning, oral health, minor surgeries and environmental health and sanitation. The Municipal Health Office also performed laboratory examinations which included CBC, urinalysis, fecalysis, blood chemistry, malarial smear, gram-staining (for STIs), Hepa B screening and pregnancy test (Municipal Health Officer, Interview of Dr. Epi, 2018). However, it should be noted that the location of the rural health unit was too far from Baguingey. It takes about one and a half hour of travel to reach the health unit.

In terms of their political life, only about 11.2% had political affiliations and about 57.5% mentioned that there were minimal efforts being done by local and national parties to help them. This indicated that the people had minimal political integration and did not have some political groups that could serve as their voice in bringing up their important concerns to authorities.

This was parallel to the fact that there was no Sangguniang Bayan Member nor Principal from their area to at least took part in the Local School Board to be able to voice out their needs and demands and to share the conditions in the area. For the school year 2017-2018 for instance, there was no applicant for the position of Principal 1 for the said school because of the difficulty of everyday travel, not to mention the accompanying hazards that goes with it (District Supervisor, Interview of Cobatto, 2018).

Moreover as shown on Table 10, there was no indigenous political structure that governed the area who could somehow represent the Ayangan people on matters that affect the people (IPMR, Bulan, 2017). Nevertheless, there was an accredited organization from their barangay named as Single Parent Association but officers rarely came during needed consultative meetings (Municipal Development Officer, Gragasin, 2018).

The guided survey conducted by the teachers also yielded information as to the extent of benefits received as shown on Table 11. Accordingly, there were minimal opportunities in the various aspects of life such as: educational opportunities (mean=1.85), economic programs (mean=1.89), ancestral domain acquisition (mean=2.12), health benefits (mean=1.89), and legal assistance (mean=1.75). Because of non-representation and minimal voice, the people had little opportunities to be heard in terms of assistance in the aspects of education, economic programs, ancestral domain acquisition, health and legal benefits.

When asked which type of priority area of assistance did they want to be provided of, the following information were obtained: they gave much preference to educational opportunities or assistance (mean=1.92, rank 1); health benefits (mean=2.46, rank 2); economic or livelihood programs (mean=2.52, rank 3); ancestral domain acquisition (mean=3.60, rank 4); and legal assistance (mean=4.47, rank 5).

In promoting the principle of “education for all,” the municipality exerted great effort to deliver assistance programs to the youth by extending education support and services such as: (a) the Special Program for Employment of Students (SPES), where indigent junior, senior and college students were employed every summer at the LGU primarily to teach them the process of delivering basic services to the community, and at the same time helped them in their educational needs by paying them in a form of cash which was equivalent to the municipal’s minimum wage; (b) Alternative Learning System Program, where by virtue of an ordinance titled: “Institutionalizing the Municipal Alternative Learning System (ALS) Program in the Municipality of Solano, Province of Nueva Vizcaya and Providing Funds Thereof,” the municipality alloted fund to support the learners’ educational needs; and (c) Solano Education Assistance Program (SEAP), where through an ordinance titled SEAP, the municipality renders assistance in the form of cash to poor but deserving students of both public and private elementary and secondary schools in Solano.

The Special Program for the Employment of Students (SPES) was an employment bridging program during summer vacation that aimed to augment the family’s income of poor but deserving students, OSY or dependents of displaced workers who intended to finish their education.

However, in the interview transcripts of teachers and parents, some needed and relevant types of assistance were surfaced especially for barangay Commonal. For example, the parents of the children mentioned about construction of semi-permanent classrooms and provision for a feeding program throughout the year. They also made mention of construction of tire paths that would connect smaller sitios to the center of the barangay, concreting of the main road that leads to the municipal proper and in conducting livelihood programs that need to be sustained by providing continuing funds.

In this ranking of priority assistance (Table 12), NGOs and private organizations, including governmental agencies would know which type of extension services in the form of relevant programs could be adopted for the immediate the community folks of Baguingey.

In terms of trust in governmental system as presented on Table 13 below, the guided survey yielded information that the community folks of Baguingey sometimes or seldom put trust in the current system due to the many and myriad of challenges or problems that they encountered. The difficulty of travel especially during the rainy season made it difficult to motivate their children to go to school especially those who came from far areas.

In terms of their participation in cultural practices as shown on Table 14, including rites, the people still held dear in their hearts the value of community oneness. About 20.1% stated they participated at least more than once a week, a big 59.7% participated at least once a week and 17.9% at least once or twice a month. This was a manifestation that they still gathered together as one people despite the difficulties that they experienced.

With regard to participation in religious activities, 12.7% were very active, 32.1% were active and 51.5% were somewhat active. In terms of the extent of dynamism of religion in pursuing Indigenous Peoples’ rights, about 22.3% said that it was very active, 28.4% mentioned active and 44.7% somewhat active. This indicated that the community folks of Baguingey believed that their religious groups provided them hope that they could do something for them as indigenous peoples. As gathered from the profile of the school-going children, many of them were members of the Church of God, Union Espiritista, Born Again, Iglesia ni Kristo, Seventh Day Adventists and the Roman Catholic Church.

In determining the academic performance of the pupils of Baguingey Elementary School, this study looked into the general academic averages of the pupils and described their achievement based on DepEd descriptions through the children’s report cards and permanent records (Form 137 A). In Grade 1 for example, during the 2017-2018 report, there were seven boys and girls respectively. The general average of the boys was at 80.2, described as approaching proficient.

Three boys were at the developing stages and four were at the approaching proficient levels. For the girls, the general average is 85.14, described as at the approaching proficient level. Two of them were at the developing stages; one with approaching proficient level, two were at the proficient levels; and another two at the advanced levels. So it was apparent that the girls of Grade 1 were performing better than the boys. When computed as one class, the Grade 1 pupils were at the approaching proficient level (82.71).

In Grade 2, there were 13 boys and 14 girls in the class for 2017-2018. But one boy was not able to complete his grade.

The boys had an average grade of 80.0, described as approaching proficient, of which, seven were at the developing stages; six were at the approaching proficient stages and a boy was at the proficient level. Meanwhile, the girls’ average grade is 82.14, described as at the approaching proficient level, of which, four pupils were at the developing stages, eight were at the approaching proficient levels, one girl was at the proficient level while another one was at the advanced level. It was therefore apparent that again, the girls performed better than the boys. The overall average of the class is 82.0, described as approaching proficient.

In Grade 3, there were 12 boys and 10 girls in the class. The average grade of the boys is 81.0, described as 81.0, and described as approaching proficient.

One pupil was at the beginning stage, nine were at the approaching proficient, and two were at the proficient stages. Meanwhile, the average grade of the girls was 85.3, described as at the approaching level, of which, one was at the beginning level, four were at the approaching proficient stages, two were at the proficient levels, and three were at the advanced levels. It was again apparent that the girls had much higher grade average than the boys. As a class, the computed grade level average is 83.2, described as at the approaching proficient level.

In Grade 4, there were 11 boys and 11 girls in the class. The average grade of the boys is 83.55, described as at the approaching proficient level, of which, seven were at the approaching proficient levels and four were at the proficient levels. Meanwhile, for the girls, the average is 84.09, described as at the approaching level, of which, one was at the developing level, six were at the approaching proficient stages, two were at the proficient levels and two were at the advanced levels. Comparing the two groups, the girls were much higher than the boys. As a class, the computed grade level average is 83.82, described as at the approaching proficient stage.

In Grade 5, there were nine boys and 23 girls in the class all in all. The average grade of the boys is 78.79, described as at the beginning stage, of which, six boys were at the developing stages and three were at the approaching proficient levels. Meanwhile, the average grade for the girls is 85.48, described as at the approaching proficient level, of which, two girls were at the developing stages, 11 were at the approaching proficient levels, five were at the proficient levels, and five were at the advanced levels. It was apparent that once again the girls performed much better than the boys. When taken as a whole, the computed average grade was 82.18, described as at the approaching proficient level.

In Grade 6, there were 14 and 11 boys and girls respectively in this class. The average grade for the boys is 80.93, described as at the approaching proficient level, of which, three boys were at the developing stages, 10 were at the approaching proficient levels, while one was at the advanced level. Meanwhile, the computed average grade for the girls was 83.83, described as at the approaching proficient level, of which, nine were at the approaching proficient levels, one each were at the proficient and advanced levels respectively. The results again showed that the girls performed much better than the boys. When taken as one whole class, the average grade was 83.6, described as at the approaching level.

Although this study did not delve on determining the correlation between the current academic performance of the school children of Baguingey Elementary School and some of their demographic profile, there was a need to highlight these correlations in this section for future replicate studies.

Increased religious attendance was also correlated with higher grades. In the study of ²³, students who attended religious activities weekly or more frequently were found to have a grade point average of 14.4 percent higher than students who never attended. Students who frequently attended religious services scored 2.32 points higher in mathematics and reading tests than their less religiously-involved peers. More than 75 percent of students who became more religious during their college years achieved above-average college grades. Religiously-involved students work harder in school than non-religious students.

Ethnic background or immigrant status of parents was also an important mediating variable on the influence of socio-economic status (SES) on children’s academic performance. Studies on the academic performance of second-generation school students in the US had found that while their performance was also influenced by the SES of their parents and type of school, their national background played a significant independent role. ²⁴ found that higher than average test scores at a poor California school district could be attributed to the fact that the schools’ Black and Hispanic population was higher than the state’s total population of those groups. In addition, teacher diversity affected non-minority and minority students differently. For non-minority students, teacher diversity could hinder or had no effect on their academic performance.

Students from non-metropolitan areas were more likely to have lower academic outcomes in terms of academic performance and retention rates than students from metropolitan areas. Despite an adequate number of educational facilities in rural and remote areas, school children from these areas remained disadvantaged by other factors. In addition, inequity existed with regard to the quality of the education that rural students received, often as a result of restricted and limited subject choice. Furthermore, students might also have limited recreational and educational facilities within their school.

A student’s educational outcome and academic success was greatly influenced by the type of school that they attend. School factors included school structure, school composition, and school climate. The school one attended was the institutional environment that sets the parameters of a students’ learning experience. Depending on the environment a school could either open or close the doors that led to academic achievement. ²⁵ suggested that school sector (public or private) and class size are two important structural components of schools. Private schools tended to have both better funding and smaller class sizes than public schools.

Smaller class sizes also created more intimate settings and therefore could increase teacher-student bonding which had also been shown to have a positive effect on student success. The relative social class of a student body also affected academic achievement ²⁶.

Learners who lived in higher quality neighborhoods also typically performed better in school than those who lived in poorer neighborhoods ²⁶. Poorer neighborhoods often lacked positive role models, adult supervision, and connections to good schools. That kind of environment often prevented students from creating healthy social networks and led to a lack of motivation which negatively affected academic performance.

Parents’ Occupation and Student’s Academic Performance also revealed significant correlation. ²⁷ opined that parents in inferior occupations earned lower incomes and often had to work longer hours to earn more for their families. Therefore they were often left with less time to spend with their family members and getting more involved in their children’s educational activities. However it was also important to note that not all parents in inferior occupation worked for long hours. ²⁸ showed that students from parents with formal occupation performed well than those from parents with informal education.

The home environment also affected the academic performance of students. Educated parents could provide such an environment that suits best for academic success of their children. The school authorities could provide counseling and guidance to parents for creating positive home environment for improvement in students’ quality of work ²⁹. ³⁰ also concluded that students whose parents were educated scored higher on standardized tests than those whose parents were not educated. Educated parents could better communicate with their children regarding the school work, activities and the information being taught at school. They could better assist their children in their homework and participated at school ³¹.

With regards to health as another determining factor, findings by ³² stated that students need fuel to actually make them study well and be attentive and manage the responsibility of class. It had been discovered that skipping breakfast could adversely affect problem-solving tasks such as mathematics grades which required problem solving skills. Most of the secondary schools in the Sumbawanga District did not provide meals and breakfast to their students who are prone to poor academic performance.

The foregoing variables might be used in future studies to affirm the correlation between the academic performance of the children in Baguingey Elementary School and some demographic profiles. Other challenges were also surfaced during the interview sessions.

In the interview transcripts of parents and teachers, some challenges in the holistic education of the youth in Baguingey were brought to the fore. For example, Teacher Marianne mentioned about the difficulty of transportation from Solano Proper to Baguingey because of unpaved or uncemented road (…it makes travel very difficult especially during the rainy season because of few transport vehicle who did not want to traverse the road going to said sitio.) She also mentioned about the lack of ICT equipment to make teaching and learning more relevant and lively (….the lack of ICT materials in the school made it difficult to teach and to solicit active participation from the children).

Another challenge was shared by Teacher Arriane stating that there was a problem on classroom and comfort rooms (…the classrooms were not enough to accommodate the children and the need for CRs for the pupils).

On the other hand, Teacher Arman shared that during rainy seasons, children and teachers alike needed boots to protect their feet and legs from muds which was sticky and slippery. Teacher Richard also shared the need for access in transportation to be on time in school because of the ready presence of vehicles or motorcycles. There was also limited resources in teaching and lack of internet access in the area to downloaded usable teaching materials and richer topic-contents and activities.

When asked to enumerate about some challenges that pupils encountered in relation to their academic performance, some information were obtained. Teacher Marianne stated that the parents lack awareness and support on the academic performance of their children. Other difficulties were truancy and absenteeism due to the difficulty of travelling to and from the house especially during rainy season. Another factor was the lack of nutritious foods to support the children in terms of their health, both physically and mentally.

In travelling to Barangay Commonal, one had to cross a metal bridge that connected one area to the next because of a stream that usually floods during strong rains. The presence of this hanging bridge connected the people from the barangay to the municipality proper.

During strong rains, the road becomes muddy and slippery. One had to travel on boots to protect the feet and not to get dirty. The school children had to take this path as there was no other road except this.

In addition, teacher Francis made mention that the school and the home lack reading materials to support the children in their education. There should at least be nutritious foods to allow them to study with an empty stomach and not to appear sluggish or tired. This was also affirmed by Teacher Jovelyn that a feeding program all year round would motivate the children to come to school to study.

These were also the same challenges that the parents enumerated in the open-ended questions. They had suggested that the Department of Education needs to: (a) construct semi-permanent classrooms with comfort rooms to provide a more conducive and safe area for the learners; and (b) provision for a feeding program for the children. For the local government unit, both parents and teachers recommended the following: (a) concreting of the main road from the sitio or barangay to the municipal proper; (b) tire paths that would connect smaller sitios going to Baguingey; and (c) provision for a sustained livelihood programs for parents and community folks.

Given the foregoing findings of this study, the ultimate goal was to craft a proposed Assistance Programs for the Children of Baguingey Elementary School. The crafting of this proposal was anchored on the rights-based approach of doing community extension services which was primarily grounded on research or factual information or empirical data that were used to offer relevant programs for the people.

Title: Tulong - Dunong at Sagip - Mag-aaral ng

Baguingey

Domicile: Baguingey Elementary School, Barangay

Communal, Solano, Nueva Vizcaya

Target Beneficiaries: School-going children of Baguingey Elementary School

Rationale

It had been stipulated in the beginning chapter of this paper that in the perspective of people in the remote areas, development itself had failed to offer answers to human suffering and disadvantage and to realize its promise to make the less privileged people better off eventually. Regional differences in living standards and immobility could still be perceived through its clear picture of geographic disparities. Upland tribal groups lived mostly in remote rural areas due to lower living standards, and these inequalities in levels of living are due to the fact that they reside in less productive areas with poor infrastructure, difficult terrain, less access to market economy and industrial work and inferior access to education ⁷. Moreover, in many instances, upland tribal groups whether living in developed or developing countries were at the disadvantaged with regard to digital information access, literacy and other skills necessary for effective utilization of Integrated Computer Technology (ICT) ⁸.

Using some data from Solano Municipal Planning Office Annual Report 2017, it had also been exposed that the municipality had a literacy rate of 97.96% comprising 38,978 persons. For the Early Childhood Care and Development Program (ECCDP), there were 1,486 preschoolers provided with day care services in 31 Day Care Centers in the municipality (Solano Municipal Planning Office Annual Report, 2017). It had also received the “seal of good education governance” during the 11^th National Education Summit for the municipality’s commitment and staunch advocacy for basic education along with two other municipalities of Nueva Vizcaya such as Diadi and Villaverde.

Given the foregoing motivational data, the municipality through its partner agencies, sponsors, and linkage donors could do much to realize the dreams of the children of Baguingey Elementary School to finish their elementary schooling. This program is a humble contribution to this end-goal.

The “Tulong-Dunong at Sagip-Mag-aaral Program” is an educational assistance package for the children of Baguingey Elementary School. It comprised four major programs namely: (a) construction of a four-classroom building; (b) concreting of roads from Solano Proper to Baguingey Elementary School; (c) livelihood training program for mothers of school children; and (e) feeding program cum health assistance to the children.

The program would run for five years and could extend depending on the availability of funds from the local government unit of Solano, the benevolence of private sponsors or donor, governmental agencies, non-governmental organizations and current LGU partners or linkages. This program was born out of a thesis from Saint Mary’s University, a reputable higher educational institution known for providing excellent quality education, research and community extension - oriented school not only in the region but in the nation. Conducted at Baguingey Elementary School, Solano, Nueva Vizcaya during the school year 2017-2018, the study: (a) profiled the school-going children of Baguingey in terms of personal and some demographic characteristics; (b) analyzed academic performances of pupils from Grade 1 to 6; and (c) offered a proposal for an assistance package based on the salient findings of the study.

The proponent is seating as one of the current municipal councilors of the local government unit of Solano. She had been frequenting the locale giving extension services to the people and is currently helping three scholars at Baguingey Elementary School for their studies. The empirical data gathered in this study strengthened her conviction that if there was one place that was needing for some kind of assistance – this place was none other than Baguingey. Baguingey comprised about 97% migrant Ifugao-speaking Ayangan from nearby province of Ifugao.

Information gathered from this study revealed that majority of the people lived below the poverty line as indicated by meager household monthly income. Most of the people also demanded the following: (a) construction of a semi-permanent classrooms with comfort rooms to provide a more conducive and safe area for the learners; (b) provision for a feeding program for the children; (c) concreting of the main road from the sitio or barangay to the municipal proper; and (d) provision for a sustained livelihood programs for parents and community folks. This empirical data were gathered through a semi-census survey, interview and open-ended questions. The data were also validated by the teachers of Baguingey Elementary School and some parents of the children.

Thus, this program had a four-pronged projects presented in synopses on pages 79 to 83. The main projects are: (a) Feeding Program; (b) Construction of a one – storey four classroom building; (c) Concreting and widening of the main road from Solano Proper to Barangay Communal; and (d) Livelihood Trainings for Mothers.

Objectives of the Program

The following objectives of the program (Tulong-Dunong at Sagip mag-aaral ng Baguingey) are intended to:

1. Enhance awareness among the people of Solano about the current plight of the school children in sitio Baguingey, particularly on education;

2. Provide needed assistance to Baguingey Elementary School in the form of educational assistance and feeding program;

3. Construct needed infrastructure projects particularly the construction of school building and paving of roads connecting sitio Baguingey to Solano proper;

4. Establish partnership or linkages among benevolent donors or sponsors, governmental agencies, non-governmental organizations and current LGU partners for funding of needed projects;

5. Create mechanisms for monitoring and evaluation of various infrastructure projects; and

6. Establish strong collaboration with teachers and parents of the school-going children relative to the project – especially feeding program for the school children and livelihood training for mothers

4. Conclusions

In the light of the findings of this study, the following conclusions were derived:

1. The Ayangan children were in need of assistance to be able to finish their education as gleaned from the profile. Government, NGOs and private sponsored – projects were seen as vital in enhancing their opportunities in life. Since about 97% were Ayangan, the integration of indigenous peoples’ education also helped in preserving, protecting and promoting relevant indigenous knowledge, systems and practices to sustain cultural life;

2. Today’s generation of Ayangan learners at Baguingey Elementary School exhibited opportunities to grow or enhance themselves through education. They were good academically and could exhibit greater chances to succeed. They were not the poorest of the poor in terms of academic performance but much needed educational support was called for; and

3. The proposed infrastructure projects like paving and widening of roads, school building construction, livelihood trainings for mothers and feeding program were seen as important since they were based on the findings of this study, thus, it was need-based and rights-based in as far as the approach of community-based programs and projects were concerned.

5. Recommendations

Based on the findings on section 1 of this study (profile), the following recommendations are strongly suggested:

1.1 That the local government unit spearhead relevant projects and activities on:

(a) providing economic assistance in the form of permanent work employment for heads of families in the barangay to share in the fruits of economic progress of the municipality;

(b) offering seminars on reproductive health emphasizing family planning;

(c) providing training capacitations in terms of skills development to prepare heads of families for work;

(d) Providing capacitation on technology use among intermediate grade pupils so as not to be left behind when they enter the high school;

(e) Providing needed education and materials for water-sealed toilets, proper garbage disposal, and creation of wholesome drainage system;

(g) Providing regular medical assistance and health care education;

(h) Providing needed infrastructure projects like road widening and concreting be provided that will connect Solano proper with Barangay Communal and tire path construction to connect the sitios with the Barangay; and

(i) helping the DepEd construct a semi-permanent classroom building for the children and teachers of Baguingey Elementary School.

1.2. Inasmuch as it had been found out in this study that 98% of the children belonged to the Ayangan ethno-linguistic group, the local school board should see to it that:

(a) The Department of Education through its IP Education Program strengthen indigenization of the curriculum;

(b) The assigned teachers should be integrating Ayangan IKSPs in their local history lessons; and

(c) The teachers should expose the children in their own IKSPs like farming practices, folk healing and health care, etc..

1.3 That the local people should:

(a) strengthen their representation as a people by organizing themselves into one strong indigenous peoples’community;

(b) elect their officers to represent them in the local government unit;

(c) seek help from NCIP officials, local school board, local IP board;

(d) establish linkages with private, non-governmental, religious organizations and academes in bringing to the fore their concerns and issues; and

(e) strengthen civic life by associating with other people in the municipality to get support from them.

2. In enhancing the academic performances of the children of Baguingey Elementary School, the following are recommended:

2.1 Construction of a semi-permanent school building be done to entice the children to study well;

2.2 Improvement of school facilities like toilets, water system and others be done;

2.3 Stronger parents and teachers’ support be done; and

2.4 Provision for educational materials and creative teaching pedagogies be in-place.

3. That the implementation of the municipal ordinance titled “Investment Code of Solano” be enhanced to provide more relevant programs, projects and activities for the children and their families from those remote places like Barangay Commonal. Employment of heads of families, construction of roads, livelihood training programs for mothers and feeding program and health care for the children are initial first steps in this investments, thus, the crafted assistance program in this study be utilized inasmuch as it was based on the salient findings of the study.

References