Three years after its inclusion in the UP budget proposal, the College of Home Economics’ (CHE) infrastructure development project, beginning with the College Museum and the Child Development Center buildings, was inaugurated on December 12, 2018.
The inauguration was led by UP President Danilo Concepcion, UP Diliman Chancellor Michael Tan, and CHE Dean Aurorita Roldan, with former UP President Alfredo Pascual and former CHE deans and faculty members as guests of honor.
They toured around the facilities of the CHE Museum, which include the costume museum; and of the new CDC building, which include observation classrooms, playgrounds, and an auditorium.
Aside from the costume museum, the CHE Museum will house museums for traditional Philippine attire, home implements, toys, and other home artifacts.
The CDC is the laboratory school of the CHE’s Family Life and Child Development Department, which educates children from three months to 5 ½ years old.
“I know this is a work in progress that we will support in whatever way we can, as part of the larger vision to be a center of Home Economics,” said Tan in the inauguration program. “Many of our problems are rooted in the destruction of what we used to teach at home.”
He added that Home Economics “. . . is an appreciation of what we have. That is where we shape our Filipino-ness and where we have our inculturation.”
Concepcion wanted the name of the College “tweaked” to reflect the many disciplines in the College and to get recognized alongside their international counterparts.
He assured the College of more support from him, so that it can lead the country in terms of its expertise and expand the coverage of courses to include emerging industries. He called upon the initiative of the College to contribute to the country’s food security by discovering new food sources and processes. He also spoke about extension programs to make courses such as culinary arts and hospitality management more accessible in the Philippines. (Jo. Lontoc, UP MPRO)
