VIGAN CITY – The Binatbatan Festival, held here recently, no longer was about Vigan students recreating the traditional way of cotton ginning (removing the seeds from the pod) while wearing Ilocos cotton weave or “inabel.”

As it turned out, some of the inabel costumes were actually woven by the students themselves.

“Inabel” weaving and Vigan pottery are now being taught in public high schools, local officials said.

“It’s no longer them just making crafts out of popsicle sticks. They have to learn something from their history and heritage,” Mayor Eva Marie Medina said.

Traditional crafts have been added to the curriculum since last school year. Participating schools included the Vigan National High School East, Vigan National High School West and Ilocos Sur National High School.

Students learn to mold clay and turn the wheel in the workshop of Fidelito Go, the master of traditional Vigan pottery.

They also learn weaving from teachers who learned it from their mothers in the traditional weaving villages in Mindoro and Camanggaan.

“This is part of their cultural heritage subject which they now learn through hands-on training,” Medina said.