ILOILO CITY -- A conference hosted by the University of the Philippines (UP Visayas) in Iloilo City highlighted the need to push anew multilingual education (MLE).

“No longer should we allow our schools to become the graveyard of our local languages and cultures,” said linguist Ricardo Ma. Duran Nolasco, chairperson of the 2023 Conference-Workshop on Indigenous Languages and Sustainable Development Goals.

“Our task is to develop them into learning bastions of excellence where no one is left behind and where no one is left outside,” added Nolasco.

This came after the Lower House recently approved in final reading the proposed suspension of the MLE, which was enacted in 2013. It awaits the decision of the Senate.

“We must not be cowed into inaction by seemingly formidable challenges along the way,” Nolasco said.

Other scholars also expressed concern of the move by Congress to suspend MLE and called for other alternate solutions.

Gregorio E.H. Del Pilar, past president of National Research Council of the Philippines, said more research should be conducted on how to properly implement MLE instead of totally suspending it.

The three-day conference that ended Thursday, Feb. 23, gathered scholars and other partners to come up with a strategic national plan as part of the International Decade on Indigenous Languages 2022-2032.

The conference was in partnership with the Department of Education (DepEd), United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), United States Agency for International Development (USAID), RTI International, Philippine Normal University, Lyceum of the Philippines, Tebtebba Foundation, 170+ Talaytayan MLE Inc., and USAID’s ABC+ program.