Over a hundred educators and researchers from member institutions of the Philippine-Canada Education Consortium for International Collaborative Partnerships Magic 7+, as well as other higher education institutions in the two countries have gathered at the Teatro Ilocandia and Center for Flexible Learning in Batac City, Ilocos Norte for a three-day international conference to promote indigenous knowledge systems for quality education and community development.
With the theme, “Sustaining a Community of Transformation through Indigenous Knowledge System Application and Utilization for All,” the conference which runs from May 16 to 18 aims to bring all concerned stakeholders on indigenous knowledge in one venue to demonstrate cases, share experiences, and lessons learned in research and community development in education, agriculture, forestry, climate and environment, health, culture, and the arts.
The conference will also serve as a venue for international collaboration that pushes for the protection, conservation, enhancement, and promotion of Filipino culture around the globe.
“We hope that by the end of the conference, we will be able to document, expand our network and share with the world about the salient features of indigenous knowledge systems and how the public will benefit from it,” said MMSU planning director Marlowe Aquino, also the focal person of the Commission on Higher and Education-Indigenous Knowledge System and Cultural Education (CHED-IKSCM) Program.
At the MMSU, for example, Aquino said they have revisited various traditional practices of the Ilocanos to deepen a better understanding of those issues.
With funding from the CHED International Affairs and the Embassy of Canada in the Philippines through the Trade Commission on Education, Agriculture, and Beverages, the program is expected to deepen global education partnerships.
“This is just the first phase of the program which we look forward to develop in collaboration with our partner institutions,” he added.
The consortium consists of MMSU, Central Luzon State University, Benguet State University, Central Mindanao University, Don Mariano Marcos Memorial State University, Mountain Province State Polytechnic College, University of Southeastern Philippines, and University of Saskatchewan. (PNA)
