Sibika.ph is a web portal that provides online resources and modules for teaching civic education to Filipino students. This website hopes to inspire a new generation of Filipinos to become informed and active citizens of the Philippines, committed to promoting and preserving democracy, human rights, and our shared history.
What teachers can expect from Sibika.ph:
Sibika provides both links to current online resources and original teaching content made specifically for Sibika, as additional tools for teaching students online. These include modules, videos, and assessment tools in both English and Filipino. The materials are in line with the current DepEd curriculum for the core class “Understanding Culture, Society, and Politics”, with a focus on democratic values, institutions and citizenship.
What students can expect from Sibika.ph:
Sibika shares information about history, culture, government, and politics as an additional learning resource to online/socially-distanced learning. Our goal is to help current Filipino students stay informed and educated about the society we live in and the important events that have shaped and continue to shape us as a nation and to inspire them to be active and engaged citizens of the Philippines, committed to promoting and preserving democratic values and the rights of individual citizens.
Why is formal civic education important?
Informed and engaged citizens are vital to a strong and enduring democracy. Civic education introduces the concept of nationhood to its young citizens, identifies shared values and ideals, and defines the responsibility of each individual in the fulfillment of shared aspirations.
A civic education teaches students about what it means to be a citizen of the Philippines, and what rights and responsibilities come with being a Filipino. Among others, it introduces basic pillars and concepts of democracy, such as the importance of historical and current events in shaping a national identity, the role of the state and the different institutions that it is made up of, and of nonstate actors and how they are vital to complementing and checking state power. Lastly, it encourages students to actively participate in current issues by engaging them in discussions around topics of public interest to see how these affect their communities and individual lives.
It hopes to produce active and empowered citizens who think critically and make informed decisions about our collective future as a nation. Through civic education classes, students understand the basic tenets of democracy and their rights as citizens of the Philippines, learning that they have a voice, as well as how and why they should use their voices to bring about positive change. Civic education builds and sustains national identity through a sense of community, reminding us about the common threads that bind us and make us all Filipino.
A formal, comprehensive civic education prepares our Filipino youth to meaningfully participate in forming a nation we identify with, creating the kind of society which we wish to be part of, protecting the values that this society holds dear, and building a country to which we feel we belong, and in whose progress we all have a stake.
