ABSTRACT

1.  Title:                      : “STATUS OF INDIGENOUS STUDENTS OF BOBONAN NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL”

2. Researcher :           DE VERA, RODRIGO JR. P. , ED.D.

3. Institution:             BOBONAN NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL

4. Pages:                      120

5. Statement of the Problem

            This study aimed primarily to determine the status of the indigenous students of Bobonan National High School. 

6. Research Design:

The descriptive method of research, using questionnaire as the main gathering instrument, was used as it described the demographic profile of the parents  in terms of their indigenous groups, birthplaces, mother tongues, second languages, residency, employment and the status of indigenous students in terms of their indigenous groups, birthplaces, mother tongues, second languages, identifying marks, early trainings, frequency of doing their cultural practices and the way they feel toward their cultural practices and heritage.

7. Locale of the Study

The locale of this study was Bobonan National High School, Bobonan, Pozorrubio, Pangasinan. The sources of data  were the fourteen (14) indigenous students from Grades 7 to 10.

8. Research Design

Frequency counts, percentage, and average weighted mean (AWM) were utilized as tools for data analysis.

9. Findings

            The following were the findings of this study. On the demographic profile of student-respondents’ family status, in terms of their parents’ affiliated indigenous groups, twelve (12) or majority of their fathers of the indigenous students were Ifugaos with 85.71%, and one who belonged to a Bago Tribe and one belonged to a non-indigenous group (Pangasinense)  with 7.14% each. On the other hand, twelve (12)  or majority of their mothers were Ifugaos with 85.71%, one mother was Kankana-ey, and the other one belonged to a non-indigenous group (Pangasinense)  with 7.14% each.  In terms of their parents’ birthplaces, twelve (12) or majority of their fathers were born in Banaue with 85.71%, while two (2) of their fathers were born in Pangasinan, one in Sison and the other one was in Pozorrubio with 1% each. On the other hand . eleven (11) of the mothers were born in Banaue with 78.57%, one was born in Baguio City, one in Mt. Province and one was born in Pangasinan with 7.14% each. In terms of their parents’ mother tongues, eleven (11)  or majority of their fathers spoke Banaue with 78.57% while the remaining three (3) fathers spoke Ilocano with 21.43%. On the other hand, ten (10) or 71.43% of their mothers spoke Banaue, followed by Ilocano with three or 21.43%, while only one (1) spoke Kankanaey with 7.14%. In terms of their parents’ second languages, eight (8) of their fathers spoke Ilocano  with 57.14% while six (6) of their fathers spoke Filipino with 42.86%. On the other hand, seven (7) or 50% of their mothers spoke Ilocano, 5 or 35.71% of them spoke Filipino, while two (2) or 14.29% of them spoke Pangasinan. In terms of their parents’ status of employment , ten (10) of  their fathers or majority of them were contractual with 71.43%, followed by three (3) fathers who were permanent with 21.43% while one father who was dead and was considered no longer working with 1%.  On the other hand, eight (8) or majority of the mothers were not working with 57.14%; four (4) were contractual with 28.57% , while two of the mothers were permanent with 14.29%. In terms of their parents’ occupations, ten (10) or majority of the fathers were wood carvers with 71.43%, followed by 1% from each occupation: construction working, private employee, and teaching. On the other hand, eight (8) or majority of the mothers were housekeepers with 57.14%, two of them were wood carvers and another two were OFWs with 14.29% each, one was self-employed and another one was teacher with 7.14% each. In terms of the status of their parents’ residency, majority of parents or nine (9) of them have temporary residency while five pairs of  parents (5) or 35.71 % have permanent residency. In terms of the status of their parents’ domicile, majority of the parents or 57.14% were renting their houses, three (3) pair of parents owned their houses with 21.43%, two (2) pairs of parents were living with their relatives with 14.29% and a pair of parents was caretaker with 7.14%.        In terms of their parents’ years of residency in Pozorrubio, four pair of parents with 28.57% of them have been living in Pozorrubio for at least 3 to 4 years, followed by three pairs of parents who have been living for 1 to 2 years with 21.43%. Two (2) pairs   of the parents have been living in this town for 13 to 14 years and another two (2) pairs of parents have been living for 9 to 10 years with 14.29% each. While one pair of parents has been living in Pozorrubio for 14 years and above, another for 11 to 12 years, and another pair of parents has been living here for 7 to 8 years with 7.14 % each. On the status of indigenous students: In terms of the student-respondents’  affiliated indigenous groups, , twelve (12) or majority of the respondents were Ifugaos with 85.71%, one (1) was Kankanaey, and one (1) was Bago with 7.14% each.  In terms of the student-respondents’ birthplaces, six (6) of them were born in Baguio City, with 42.86%, four (4) or 28.57% of them were born in Banaue, two (2) or 14.29% were born in Pangasinan, and one(1) was born in Pampanga and the other one (1) in Quirino with 7.14% each. In terms of the student-respondents’ mother tongues,  nine (9) or 64.29 % spoke Banaue, followed by Ilocano with 4 or 28.57%, and one (1) student-respondent spoke Pangasinan with 7.14%. In terms of the student-respondents’ second languages, eight (8) out of 14 student-respondents or 57.14%  spoke Filipino as second language, while six (6) or 42.86% of them spoke Ilocano.   In terms of their physical appearance, most of time their classmates recognized them as indigenous group because of their family names with  Average Weighted Mean of 3.57 and sometimes they were recognized as members of the indigenous group by their looks (physical appearance) with Average Weighted Mean of 3.14 and their intonation with Average Weighted Mean of 2.79. In terms of incidence of their classmates making fun of their identifying marks, the student-respondents rarely felt that their classmates made fun of their looks, family names and intonation with average weighted mean of 2.57, 2.43 and 2.29 respectively. In terms of the frequency in using their parents’ mother tongues and second languages, the student-respondents always spoke their parents’ mother tongue when they were talking to their kababayan or relatives with AWM of 4.43. Most of the time, they spoke with their mothers’ mother tongue with AWM of 3.71 and fathers’ mother tongue with AWM of 3.5. In terms of the frequency of wearing their indigenous clothes, they never wore bahag or tap-is as part of their costume during school programs with AWM of 1.0 in both items. In terms of the frequency of dancing their cultural dances, particularly caňao, the student-respondents never danced caňao or cultural dances during family gathering, community activity, school programs and even when having a vacation to the birthplaces of their parents. In terms of the frequency of playing gangsa, the student-respondents have never played gansa whenever there is a special occasion at home with AWM of 1.14 and even during school program or beauty pageant as part of their talent with AWM of 1.0. In terms of the frequency of eating indigenous foods at home, the student-respondents have rarely eaten pinuneg (dinuguan) at home with AWM of 2.00. They have never eaten pinikpikan, etag/itag, sabusab, and tapuey/tapuy/tapey at home. However, when having a vacation with their parents’ birthplaces, they have rarely eaten pinikpikan with AWM of 1.86. In terms of their early training of their cultural practices,  the student-respondents were taught by their parents their mother tongue most of the time with AWM of 3.71. However, they were never taught on how to wear bahag for the boys and tap-is for the girls, how to dance “canao”, how to play gangsa, and how to eat indigenous foods. In terms of their feelings toward their cultural heritage, the student-respondents felt proud all the time for their parents’ mother tongues with AWM of 4.71 and their family names with AWM of 4.36. Most of the time, they felt proud of their parents’ cultural dance and musical instrument with AWM of 3.43 each. Sometimes they felt proud of their physical looks with AWM of 3.36 and intonation with AWM of 3.29. They rarely felt proud of eating indigenous foods with AWM of 2.50 and wearing tap-is for the girls with AWM of 2.0. They never felt proud of wearing bahag for the boys with AWM of 1.1.

            Based on the findings, the following conclusions were derived: 1). That majority of the families of the indigenous students, who came from Banaue, Ifugao, migrated to Pozorrubio due to employment opportunities and they have been living in this town as contractual workers and temporary residents; 2). That the indigenous families spoke their mother tongue at home, but their parents failed to imbibe among their children their cultural practices; and 3). That due to the failure of parents to teach  their children their cultural practices  at an early age, the indigenous students, as a consequence, have failed to experience and showcase their rich cultural practices during special occasions in the family, community and school programs.

            Based on the findings and conclusions, the following recommendations are presented:1). There is a need to organize in the school a club  for the indigenous students and a separate club for  their  parents;2). Observe the annual celebration of the National Indigenous Peoples’ Month every month of  October and International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples in the month of August; and 3). Include into the curriculum the indigenous education system, particularly in the subjects MAPEH, Araling Panlipunan, and Edukasyon sa Pagpapakatao  in compliance to DepEd Order No. 32, s. 2015.