Instead of suspending the implementation of Mother Tongue Based-MultiLingual Education (MTB-MLE), a national coalition of civil society organizations urged the Department of Education (DepEd) to identify its strengths and challenges to improve its overall implementation.

“Its suspension will further hold back progress and gains we have achieved so far, most especially in placing inclusive education at the center of the Education Agenda,” Civil Society Network for Education Reforms (E-Net Philippines) said.

E-Net Philippines issued this statement with the ongoing deliberations on House Bills 2188 filed by Rep. Roman Romulo and 3925 filed by Rep. Mark Go in the Committee on Basic Education and Culture which is also chaired by Romulo himself.

The said bills seek to suspend the implementation of the provisions on the MTB-MLE in the Republic Act No. 10533 or the Enhanced Basic Education Act of 2013, particularly on the use of the Mother Tongue or the first language as the medium of instruction for learners in kindergarten to Grade 3.

The suspension of MTB-MLE stems from the current inability of the Department of Education (DepEd) to effectively implement the use of the mother tongue in all regions as provided by RA 10533 that ranges from producing complete books and other instructional and learning materials to having trained teachers to properly teach the mother tongue.

During the Committee’s Fifth Regular Meeting on Sept. 13 where the House Bills were deliberated, the DepEd, represented by Undersecretary Epimaco Densing III expressed that the DepEd and its Secretary, Vice President Sara Duterte support the bills on suspension of MTB-MLE implementation and likewise shared that DepEd is in favor of returning the medium of instruction to English and Filipino from learner’s mother tongue.

However, E-Net Philippines, a national coalition of civil society organizations engaged in policy advocacy and partnerships for education reforms was one of the invited resource persons to the hearing, believed that suspending the implementation of the MTB-MLE as a medium of instruction in the kindergarten to Grade 3 “counters government‘s commitment to provide and ensure learner-centered, culture-sensitive, quality, and inclusive education.”

The coalition stressed that MTB-MLE is at the “heart of inclusive and equitable quality education and lifelong learning” for all.

“It advocates making education systems more responsive to cultural and linguistic diversity and respects the rights of children and learners,” the group said, noting that the core value of institutionalizing MTB-MLE in RA 10533 is a recognition that “language plays a strategic role in shaping the formative years of learners.”

E-Net National Coordinator Alvelyn Joy Berdan, during the hearing, noted that “all children have the right to quality education in a language they speak and understand.”

She added that forcing them to learn in an unfamiliar language creates an educational handicap that many cannot overcome. “This is the situation faced by many children from non-dominant language communities when they enter the formal school system,” Berda said.

Given this, E-Net recommended that the government must conduct a legislative inquiry on how the DepEd is implementing the MTB-MLE to improve its execution.

“Monitoring and evaluation must be built into every part of the MTB-MLE program and use the results to strengthen and sustain it,” the coalition said.

E-Net also underscored the importance of involving local stakeholders, especially local leaders and elders who have a mastery of local languages, in the development of curriculum and instructional materials and to support teachers’ training and teacher recruitment from the local language communities.

Berdan stressed that implementation issues such as teachers’ training, availability of instructional materials and textbooks, and budget are “educational deficits that the government has to resolve not only in the context of implementing MTB-MLE but in the entire gamut of our education system.”