Save Our Schools for Lumad: Indigenous People Ph.

The mountainous countryside of Mindanao, Southern Philippines is home to the indigenous Lumad communities. The Lumad are a group of Austronesian indigenous people in the southern Philippines. It is a Cebuano term meaning “native”.

Lumads are a group of Non-Muslim Indigenous people known also as the largest indigenous group in the Philippines. They suffer from discrimination and are considered as one of the poorest minority groups in the world. Their lives are constantly threatened by militarization and state-sponsored attacks. Through sheer determination and with the help of non-governmental organizations, they were able to establish their own schools for the education of Lumad children based on a homegrown curriculum that respects and promotes their indigenous rights and way of life. Today, many of these Lumad schools have been forcible closed as nearby communities evacuate their homes to flee from continuing threats, harassments and killings.

Now, the Department of Education in the Philippines is officially closing fifty-five of their schools, because military officials claims the New People’s Army used the school as a platform for their subversive propaganda after they investigated one of the 55 schools. The Philippine authorities utilizes the armed forces in initiating smear campaigns against the Lumad schools. A growing list of reported and documented human rights violations against the students, teachers and community members also points to the military as perpetrators.

This fundraising helps spread awareness about the situation of Lumad schools and help the Lumad community in saving their schools and their community. We can help them by using our voice and our platforms to spread knowledge and using our wallets to support this fundraising campaign. If this fund-raising succeeds, Lumad children can have the opportunity to learn.

Education is a right, not a privilege, everyone deserves a proper education. When they become educated, they will have proper discernment and financial stability in order to improve not only their lives but their community as well. The price that the Lumad community will pay if this fund-raising doesn’t succeed is way too high that we are working together as a community to minimize the chances of failure.

This will be a 17 weeks Fundraising Campaign: