Bill discontinuing mother tongue as medium of instruction in K-3 lapses into law

Metro Manila, Philippines – A bill seeking to discontinue mother tongue as a medium of instruction for Kindergarten to Grade 3 students has lapsed into law without the signature of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

Known as the Republic Act 12027, the law seeks to “revert the medium of instruction to Filipino and until otherwise provided by law, English” amending the section 4 of the Enhanced Basic Education Act of 2013.

The measure states that the mother-tongue education may be used in monolingual classes under a number of conditions:

+ An official orthography from the Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino

+ Officially documented vocabulary such as glossary, dictionary, among others

+ Literature on languages and culture

+ Availability of teachers in school who speak or trained to teach mother tongue

“Three years after the effectivity of this act and every three years thereafter, the DepEd (Department of Education) shall conduct a review of the optional implementation of the MTB-MLE (Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education) program in monolingual classes,” the law said.

The DePed, KWF, and other education stakeholders are tasked to create its Implementing Rules and Regulations within 90 days since the law took effect.

The measure will be effective on Oct. 27, or 15 days since it was published in the Official Gazette.

The law was signed by House Speaker Martin Romualdez and Senate President Chiz Escudero.

Mixed reactions

In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Sen. Win Gatchalian welcomed the passage of the measure.

“Mahigit sampung taon nang ipinapatupad ang mother tongue policy pero malinaw sa ebidensya na hindi ito naging epektibo sa mga paaralan. Prayoridad natin ang pagkatuto ng mga mag-aaral,” Gatchalian wrote.

[Translation: It has been 10 years since the mother tongue policy has been implemented. But it’s clear that it’s not effective in schools. Our priority is for our students to learn]

Jerry Gracio, former KWF Commissioner admitted there are problems in the implementation of the program.

However, he pointed out the importance of still using mother tongue to better understand lessons in school.

“Kung gusto kong magturo ng science o math sa isang bata na ang unang lengguwahe ay Waray, pero English o Filipino ang gagamitin ko sa pagtuturo, kailangan muna ng bata na matuto ng English o Filipino, bago niya maintindihan ang mga konsepto sa math at science,” he wrote on Facebook.

[Translation: If I want to teach science or math to a child who’s been exposed to Waray (local dialect) and I have to use either English or Filipino as an instruction medium, the student has to learn these languages first before understanding math and science concepts]