The Malita Tagakaulo Mission (MATAMIS) is helping two Tagakolu communities manage their schools. The schools have been named after the community where they are located: IP School of Kyasan (located in Kyasan, Brgy. Kilalag, Malita, Davao Occidental) and IP School of Lebleb (located in Lebleb, Brgy. Pinalpalan, Malita, Davao Occidental). The name of the schools were chosen by the community members themselves after a series of consultations. These two IP Schools trace their origins to the literacy schools that the PMÉ (Société des Missions-Etrangères du Quebec) missionaries began in the mid 1980s. There were numerous literacy schools numbering up to fifty scattered all over the mountains of the municipalities of Malita and Sta. Maria in the Province of Davao del Sur. All the teachers of these literacy schools were volunteers, the majority of whom were Tagakolu, trained by the mission and received a meager allowance due to limited resources. These literacy schools slowly became primary schools that were annexed to the nearest government schools and were called Tribal Filipino Schools (TF Schools).
The Missionaries of Jesus (MJ), who took over the administration of the Malita Tagakaulo Mission in 2006 , continued the TF Schools by maintaining the handful that remained and opened a few others in a number of far flung communities. Encouraged by the commitment of the Diocese of Digos to IP Education and with the help of the Episcopal Commission on Indigenous Peoples (ECIP), the Missionaries of Jesus (MJ), the MATAMIS staff and IP school teachers have been developing an IP curriculum for the remaining two TF Schools, now called IP (Indigenous Peoples) Schools. Despite the presence of government schools, the Missionaries of Jesus (MJ) has opted to support the remaining IP Schools as a concrete expression of its commitment to the mandate of Christian Mission to be in communion with those in the peripheries, in this context the Tagakolu community, and adherence to the Diocese’s commitment to IP Education.
The IP school teachers now receive a minimum wage and other benefits following the labor laws mandated by the Philippine government. Since the IP schools offer free education, the salaries of the IP school teachers and the materials they use are supported by donations both local and international. Without donations, this mission work would be difficult to sustain.