Legarda bats for cultural integration to general education subjects

Today, Senate President Pro Tempore Loren Legarda pushed for the integration of arts and culture into the teaching of various general education subjects to make it more engaging for learners.

The four-term senator explained that there are many excellent references in the country to help simplify things and for students to be able to relate to the lessons at hand.

"We should creatively integrate arts and culture in our textbooks for Filipino, English, Science, and Mathematics," said Legarda during her keynote speech at the Philippine Book Festival on Thursday.

"We can hit two birds with one stone, as they say, so why not use texts from our history as we drill students on subject-verb agreement?" she added.

"Why not use our heirloom ingredients, like batwan or langkawas, as we instruct our students on how to count, add, and subtract?"

The senator participated in a poetry reading as she recited "Dreamweaver" by Dr. Marjorie Evasco.

Legarda also announced the representation of the Philippines as a Guest of Honour country to the 2025 Frankfurter Buchmesse.

Since 2016, Legarda has ensured adequate funding for Philippine participation at the Frankfurt Book Fair, providing a platform where we can promote our local authors and books.

As co-author of the Philippine Creative Industries Development Act, Legarda assured the support of the vital creative sector, linking with relevant government agencies to grow and expand initiatives that advance the industries' needs.

"I urge DepEd to prioritize the procurement of books for public school libraries and library hubs," asserted the senator.

"All students and young people deserve the same opportunity to discover new worlds, broaden their horizons, and increase curiosity through literature," she furthered.

"Let us not underestimate the value of promoting Filipino content in our libraries."

Aside from the poetry reading, the four-term senator attended the ribbon untying ceremony of the REX Book Store booth.