The Pathways of Hope in Lanao del Sur
By Carlo Rey Vidamo, Pathways
The homeland of Maranaos, Lanao del Sur (LDS), is teeming with beautiful landscapes. Beaming with pride from the third biggest lake in the Philippines — Lanao Lake — to the beautiful plains and rocky mountains — the province has so much to offer along with its culture, cuisine, and rich precolonial history.
However, it is not without challenges.
LDS is one of the provinces in the underserved, conflict-affected Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM). For many decades, the region struggled as it fought for its rights, particularly in education. Because of the armed conflicts that have strained the region for many years, it is not surprising that BARMM is the seat of the lowest literacy and numeracy rate in the Philippines.
We visited LDS in 2023 to gather stories from the beneficiaries of the Abot Kaalaman sa Pamilyang Bangsamoro (AKAP) Program, the flagship program of the Ministry of Basic, Higher, and Technical Education with support from the Australian Government and Philippines’ Department of Education (DepED). AKAP is a program that caters to the school-less barangays in the region, creating learning centres and providing access to basic Kindergarten to Grade 3 (K-3) education to the children of the Bangsamoro region.
Education in the Mountains
It took a 30-minute bumpy motorcycle ride on a muddy, steep, and slippery mountain road up the mountains to reach Barangay Rangiran in the Municipality of Pagayawan. There, we met Jamalodin, an eight-year-old Grade 2 learner at Rangiran AKAP Learning Center.
Jamalodin is an energetic yet shy kid. Nevertheless, when he got comfortable, he happily shared how he likes going to the learning centre because he gets to learn and study there — breaking a generational cycle of no literacy. But when asked what he dislikes about it, he and his classmates replied, “Kalalakaw” — which meant “hiking/walking” in the Maranao language.
Most learners of AKAP Rangiran learners cross two rivers and trek for hours every day just to get to the learning centre that is sitting on a hilltop. When it rains, the rivers become more dangerous, and the steep roads get more muddy and slippery.
Struggles in the Plains
Meanwhile, the learners of Mama-an Pagalongan AKAP Learning Center in the Municipality of Tagaloan II take daily walks to and from the facility. Compared to Raringan, the learning centre is located on a plain and developed land owned by its barangay chairperson.
Before the AKAP program, residents of Barangay Mama-an Pagalongan had not had any access to education. The elders mentioned that even their predecessors passed without learning how to write their names. So, for many generations, education was a concept alien to them. It was only in 2020 that Barangay Mama-An Pagalongan had any access to education. Back then, education was not an option when daily access to food, electricity, and at-home water supply were far more pressing matters.
While these problems prevail, community parents and elders are thankful for the support of the Australian Government’s through the Pathways program now that they have realised the importance of education — and how it positively impacted the children of their community.
“The children are much more behaved now,” a community elder said. “We never really thought education would be possible for us… Now our children have more motivation to live as they spend most of their time studying. They now have ambitions to become teachers, engineers, nurses.”
The Pathways of Hope
The learners and community elders could not express enough their gratitude for the support they are receiving from Australia. Although some of the challenges remain, the children of Lanao del Sur now have something brighter to look forward to.
Indeed, the road to quality and inclusive education in the region is still a long and arduous journey. But residents of Lanao del Sur are now gleaming with hope, for they know that someday they will rise above these challenges through their persistence and determination to learn — for as long as the rivers remain passable, and the pathways are obstacle-free.