Secretary of (Mis) Education
Education Secretary Jesli Lapus lamented how young students are being dragged into the political turmoil. “We will not allow political exercises in schools,” he declared, “Education must proceed uninterrupted and protected.” He was reacting to recent visits made by ZTE/NBN witness Jun Lozada to various schools in Metro Manila.
The sad thing about these statements is not so much that they are misplaced but that they come from no less than the secretary of education.
He will not allow political exercises in schools? But education IS a political act! The very essence of education is to transform individuals into critical and autonomous beings. Even Section 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights says so: Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms.
“Education must proceed uninterrupted and protected,” he said. This is probably the most eloquent description of the sad state of Philippine education today: the view that education is simply confined to the school hours spent while inside a classroom. As I said in my previous blog, participation in the political realm, be it in the form of street rallies or attending campus seminars like the one of Lozada, is probably the best form of political education.
For crying out loud, let the kids get involved in political discussion. We always complain about the apathy of the youth and yet here we have students actively participating in a political issue and the secretary of education “reminds” them that they should stay inside their classrooms and complete the DepEd mandated hours per school year.
The reminder is obviously a reaction to the popularity of Lozada in his campus tours. It is a subtle attempt to subvert the truth. The secretary doesn’t realize that the solution to his problem is not to prevent Lozada from speaking before students, the solution, the democratic solution is to use the same venue to engage Lozada in a reasoned discourse. But hey, it’s probably too naive to expect reason from this administration. Strangely, I tend to agree with the pronouncement of former COMELEC chief Ben Abalos that he intends to do his own campus tours. I think schools should welcome him, listen to him and subject him to reasoned criticism. In fact, I think both Lozada and Abalos should go to campuises together. And let the young people decide for themselves. Again, that is political education.
But we know that will not happen. Because this administration has time and again avoided a situation where, God knows, the truth might come out. In the end, the reminder of Sec. Lapus isn’t really about following some bureaucratic memorandum on the required minimum hours for schools, it is the knee-jerk reaction of a government afraid of its own people; afraid that they may discover the truth. As William Blake said:”Education makes a people easy to lead, but difficult to drive; easy to govern, but impossible to enslave.” This government obviously doesn’t like a politicized people.
