Between March 15 and May 30, under the national health emergency Marinduque State College pushed through with the 2nd batch of the Graduate Diploma in Cultural Education in partnership with the National Commission for Culture and the Arts, Philippine Cultural Education Program along with the Department of Education MIMAROPA. There were at least 46 teacher-applicants who took the qualifying test last April 17 administered by the DepEd regional coordinator Mam Bheng Marmol. A total of 34 teacher-scholars in Oriental Mindoro, Romblon and Marinduque had their online orientation last May 8 allowed interaction about delivery mode, enrolment procedures, scholarship contract and other relevant concerns for a Cultural Education scholar.
The first GDCE course, CulEd 205 Philippine Arts under Dr.Victor Emmanuel Carmelo Nadera Jr of the University of the Philippines and Likhaan Institute of Creative Writing was held from May 11-16 provided the benchmark for the succeeding GDCE courses. Followed by CulEd203 Cultural Diversity and Philippine languages under Bulacan State University College of Arts and Sciences dean Dr. Mary Bulaong from May 18 to 23 via zoom platform, google classroom and FB group chats. The next GDCE course, CulEd 204 – Re-view of Philippine history and heritage with the supervision of Prof. Michael Charleston Chua from De La Salle University Manila from May 25 to 30 highlighted the local history and rich heritage of the island provinces in the region. Finally, like bookends, the last GDCE course was handled by the former National Committee on Cultural Education and NCCA Commissioner for Cultural Dissemination Dr. Orlando Magno from University of Cebu capped the summer term 2020 from June 1 to 6 with the lesson integration of cultural resources.
Despite the precarity and risks-involved with COVID19, the GDCE teacher-scholars of MIMAROPA pursued what others might have found restricting, limiting or just plain too difficult. I salute the local heroes of the island provinces with the promise of making most of the learnings from the first half of the GDCE for every student within and beyond the classroom setting. I hope the next half of the journey would be much fulfilling, productive and more creative than the previous one. Congratulations in advance, may you transcend and overcome all obstacles.
I look forward to the full fruition of blood, sweat and tears of the GDCE faculty, MSC administration, NCCA PCEP’s generosity and opportunity extended to the GDCE teacher-scholars’ zeal and spirit through their proceedings which would be curated and be made available to the public through other platforms like tactile, rich/interactive media and microsites.
Dr. Randy T. Nobleza
MSC GDCE project coordinator