News5 highlights language issues in education

CHEERS TO News5 for its special report that provided background on the use of Filipino and local languages in the public schools. It was in response to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s call for “emphasis and facility in a global language,” which many understood referred to English. He made the call during his inaugural speech, pushing for a review of the educational materials now in use. 

Maeanne Los Baños’ July 15 report recalled the benefits of teaching in the mother tongue. She noted that Section 5 of the Enhanced Basic Education Act of 2013, or Republic Act No. 10533, states that Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE) should be implemented from the Kindergarten level to Grade 3. Apart from Filipino, other local languages shall serve as the medium of instruction (MOI) in these grade levels, News5 explained.

Los Baños cited the views of various sources.  Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT-Teachers) chairperson Vladimer Quetua urged the President to implement the use of local languages as medium of instruction. He argued that language barriers impede learning, as students need to master English while tackling other subjects. 

English is still predominantly used despite existing policy, Quetua noted, recalling that Mathematics and Science are taught in English.

Academics back MTB-MLE

Los Baños consulted Dr. Ronel Laranjo of the University of the Philippines’ College of Arts and Letters’ Department of Filipino and Philippine Literature. Laranjo stressed that the use of the mother tongue has proven more effective in teaching the basics, citing the experience of Japan and South Korea, where students are taught in the local languages. Los Baños then recalled  the Program for International Student Assessment’s (PISA) 2018 report, which studied 15-year-old learners across 79 countries. Japanese and South Korean students excelled in reading, science, and mathematics, while the Philippines ranked among the lowest in each of these subjects.

Jennifer Monje, Second Language Studies Professor at the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila, pointed to the multilingual situation in which Filipinos learn. She recognized that MTB-MLE facilitates learning and described the use of a mother tongue as a “scaffold for learning other languages,” including English.

Concluding her report, Los Baños noted the Department of Education’s (DepEd) planned review of the K-12 curriculum. With a non-educator at the helm of the DepEd, there will be other problems which will require in-depth reporting and interpretation. 

The call for the recovery of English is a simplistic view of the problems that plague the public school system in the country. Media should look into the issues that have combined to cause such a massive decline in recent decades. Media need to shift to more contextual reporting to enable  different sectors to understand what needs to be done not just to restore the use of  a “global language,”  but to first of all assure genuine learning in our public schools.