Education department urged to review system

Thursday, February 23, 2012

ILOILO CITY – A lawmaker has asked the Department of Education (DepEd) to get rid of the old language of instruction and implement the child’s first language of teaching in the first six years of elementary education.

Representative Magtanggol Gunigundo (2nd district of Valenzuela, Bulacan) lamented that the DepEd is still married to the current bilingual system of teaching, without minding that Filipino children’s performance in school is among the worst in the world.

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During the 2nd Philippine conference workshop on mother tongue-based multilingual education last week, Gunigundo said the mother-tongue medium of instruction is easily understood and absorbed by the pupils leading to their comprehension and learning.

Repeating his stand on the issue last February 21 during the celebration of the International Mother Language Day, Gunigundo asked Education Secretary Armin Luistro to look closely on the situation and listen to what the children feel about the current educational system.

The lawmaker urged Luistro to send his people to the field and make them interact with the teachers who are faced with the challenge of teaching schoolchildren in the language that they do not understand.

Gunigundo is principal author of House Bill 162 or “The Multilingual Education and Literacy Act” bill.

K+12 curriculum with three years of mother tongue-based education is weak and least desirable set-up for functional literacy goals and acquisition of second language purposes, the lawmaker said.

Starting June 2012, the curriculum, with daycare and kindergarten education, will have six years for elementary education, first to fourth year junior high school and fifth to sixth year senior high school education. (Lydia C. Pendon)