Filipino students learning all about history, Luistro insists

Don’t know much about history?

Education Secretary Armin Luistro has downplayed the ignorance of history displayed by three students who questioned why revolutionary hero Apolinario Mabini stood up to American colonial occupation while seated throughout the historical film “Heneral Luna.”

An uproar on social media was triggered by posts, including by actor Epy Quizon, telling of students wondering why Mabini never stood up during the entire movie.

The question was directed to Quizon, who played Mabini, the “Brains of the Revolution,” also known as “The Sublime Paralytic.”

Luistro said he would look into the concerns raised by the public and President Aquino himself on today’s youth’s supposed lack of knowledge of history, according to Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr.

On Tuesday, President Aquino spoke to Luistro on whether Philippine history was being properly taught to students.

“Yes, they have spoken to each other,” Coloma said in a press briefing.

Heroes in K to 12

Coloma said Luistro sent him a text message, in which the education secretary “assured the President that Philippine history, including local and national heroes, is taught in Grades IV, V and VI in the new K to 12 curriculum.”

“We also have extracurricular activities that touch on the lives of prominent Filipinos. I believe the comments Mr. Quizon received from three students are not reflective of the students’ level of awareness of our heroes. In any case, I committed to discuss this concern with the curriculum supervisors and validate if majority of the students have similar deficiencies and ensure that we do not simply dismiss the issue without fair assessment of the real situation,” Luistro said in the text message.

At the Apolinario Mabini Awards on Tuesday, the President said in his speech that he could only shake his head in disbelief when he learned that there were young Filipinos who did not know that Mabini, one of the most popular heroes of the Spanish revolution, had contracted polio that led to his paralysis.

The issue made the rounds of social media, with netizens saying it was perhaps an indication of the deterioration of the state of Philippine education.