THE SAVE Our Schools Network Lumad Bakwit Schools partnered with Climate Change Network for Community-based Initiatives to create programs for the welfare, mental and emotional health of Lumad students.

“The IP Lumads have gone through a lot from militarization and paramilitarization in their ancestral domain, displacement and evacuations, and forced closure of their beloved Lumad schools as ordered by the Department of Education, yet they remained steadfast and hopeful,” SOS said in a statement.

“But the pandemic is something new to everyone and it has disenfranchised the IP Lumads further because of the lack of support from the government,” it added.

Rius Valle of the SOS Network said that aside from the pandemic, the recent attacks on Lumad communities have taken a toll on the mental health of the students studying at the Bakwit School in University of the Philippines Diliman.

The partnership seeks to develop various activities on farming, team building, educational tutorial, cultural and art productions.

“We recognize the primacy of taking care of the mental health of the IP Lumad, thus we believe that our programs will not only allow them to endure this pandemic but prevail from it,” CCNCI said.

CCNCI is a non-profit organization that advocates environmental rights and sustainable development.