JUST like their antique collections, Philippine museums gather dust, with the dwindling number of visitors every year. It’s a fact that drives the National Commission for the Culture and Arts (NCAA) to tap teachers to encourage their students to rediscover the country’s museums, as young people of older generations did during their time.
Unlike before, schools now seldom organize field trips to museums and science centers, as these establishments fail to compete with commercial malls and theme parks.
“The problem lies not with museums, but on a child’s first encounter with them,” Ambeth Ocampo, chairman of the National Historical Institute, said in his column the Philippine Daily Inquirer. He observed how the practice of herding school children in to the National Museum with no preparation or explanation does more harm than good since it gives the children the wrong impression that museums are boring and senseless.
To arm teachers with knowledge in formulating educational trip itineraries, the NCCA together with the Department of Tourism launched the Teacher Orientation Program (TOP) last April 11. The program, which lasted for four days, was implemented in six geographical clusters in Metro Manila, Region III and Region IV-A.
While most of the museum curators only conducted a walk-in tour, the UST Museum of Arts and Sciences and Museo Pambata showed an audio-visual presentation to the visitors to give a background of their museums and their collections and exhibits.
The participants were also given tips in organizing a more affordable and educational field trip, as well as sample modules in evaluating the feedback of the students.
Oldest but unknown
During the program, Michelle Quinto of the UST Museum noted that only a few know that UST has its own arts and sciences museum which is the oldest in the country.
“Most of them know UST, but they have no idea it has a museum,” Quinto said.
The UST Museum of Arts and Sciences is recognized as the oldest museum in the Philippines. It began as an observation room of mineral, botany and biology collections in the 17th century.
“The University’s museum is already known by its students and by the international community,” said Clarissa Avendaño, assistant director of the UST Museum of Arts and Sciences. “But it still lacks public attention locally.”
The museum is making an effort to change the public’s perception that museums are reserved only for researchers and scholars by portraying it as a venue where the public could freely learn, interact, and have fun at the same time.
“As much as possible, we would like to encourage the teachers to play a role in the tour of students in the museum,” Avendaño said.
Besides its website, newsletter, and permanent displays, the UST Museum of the Arts and Sciences also plays host to traveling exhibits and art fora. The latest is the “Partnership at 60: A Traveling Photo Exhibit Commemorating the 60th year of Fil-Am Friendship.”
The museum also holds seminars and workshops occasionally to supplement its exhibits like Through the Palette’s Eyes, where an art talk was held for college, high school, and elementary students.
It also holds inter-school contests and concerts to attract student visitors from other schools such as the Hail Mary the Queen Children’s Choir and Ave Maria Children’s Choir Foundation Concert last September.
Starting next year, the museum will also extend its operating days up to Saturday to accommodate the requests of other schools to tour the museum during weekends. It will also be open on Sundays for special exhibitions.
Students make up a large chunk of the museum’s visiting population. They would pass their impressions long after they have graduated and share it with their own children by instilling in them the values and importance of museums while they’re still young. Samuel Raphael Medenilla
