The youth representative on the City Council has called upon the local education department to incorporate courses on local history and culture into the school curriculum to educate students about the rich heritage of Puerto Princesa City
Councilor Myka Magbanua, in a proposed resolution, pointed out that many of the current generation’s young students are unaware of Puerto Princesa City’s history.
She made this observation during last month’s City Youth Officials Development program, where they conducted courses for students from across Puerto Princesa to enlighten them about its origins.
“Karamihan sa kanila, first time lang margining yung origin ng name ng Puerto Princesa, yung iba bago lang nalaman na 66 yung barangay sa Puerto Princesa City. Mga basic information na hindi dapat kinakalimutan,” she added.
She said that while DepEd schools have already integrated some of the local history in their classes, the subjects weren’t properly expounded as with other provinces.
During her time as a student and a city councilor, she said that she visited schools all across the nation and found that all of the elementary schools had historical information on their city readily available and posted on the classroom walls.
Magbanua urged the DepEd to talk with the LGUs about how to preserve and integrate history within the local school’s curriculum beyond just contextualizing situations in lessons, stating that most students were not even aware that the city library and Palawan Museum were easily accessible in the city.
“Wala talaga tayong reference books. May mga presentations and literature na available sa city tourism [office], pero usually pinepresenta sa mga turista,” Magbanua said.
