Schools which are suspected as training grounds for future New People’s Army (NPA) fighters will have their fate known by the end of this month.

The Department of Education had ended the inspection of 55 suspended Salugpongan Ta Tanu Igkanugon Community Learning Center Inc. (STICLCI) tribal schools to determine what to do to them, an official of the DepEd in Region 11 (DepEd-11) said.

Schools are favorite haunts of NPA guerillas as their counterparts in Manila recruit new members from huge universities and colleges through indoctrination with a supposed pro-masses ideology.

Around 300 participants, mostly parents, rallied in Manila last Thursday to spread awareness on the deceptive recruitments of minors by alleged communist front groups.

Parents whose children were taken away by youth organizations Anakbayan and Kabataan backed up the mothers who previously appeared in public to share their struggles and seek help to claim their daughters recruited by the leftist groups.

DepEd-11 spokesman Jenielito Atillo said the agency’s fact-finding team recently concluded the investigation and will soon release a recommendation whether the STICLCI should continue its operations or their permits totally revoked.

Last week, Atillo said STICLCI executives met with the five-member fact-finding team that was created early this month to gather evidence on the school system’s alleged ties with the communist movement.

A tribal leader earlier described the STTICLCI as a national security threat as he called on DepEd to shut down the schools.

Datu Joel Unad, chairman of the Mindanao Indigenous Peoples Council of Elders, said DepEd should issue a closure order against the Salugpongan school system for propagating the “ideology” behind the communist rebellion in the country.

Unad expressed concern that STTICLCI’s teachings in its tribal schools have “poisoned the minds of our schoolchildren,” even as he voiced support to allegations that Salugpongan is linked with the NPA.

“We have gathered enough information already and it’s up to the DepEd team to hammer their position and give their recommendation,” Atillo said.

He added the current Senate inquiry on the alleged links of Salugpongan schools with the communist NPA will not affect their investigation.

The investigation into STICLCI was launched following the allegations of National Security Adviser Secretary Hermogenes Esperon that the 55 STICLCI-run schools in Region 11 were used as training and recruitment centers for the NPA.

Esperon’s allegations were based on the testimonies of former STICLCI students and teachers.

One of the teachers, Melvin Loyod, claimed in his affidavit that Salugpongan learners were taught rebel tactics and indoctrinated to hone their minds to fight the government.

The military, in turn, is hoping to bridge the gap of schools in communist-infested areas through makeshift classrooms.

Col. Nolasco Mempin, commander of the Army’s 3rd Infantry Brigade, said the classroom in Paquibato District in Davao City provides schooling to elementary pupils of the STICLCI-run school in the area.