ACT Teachers Party-list Rep. France Castro (Contributed photo)

Makabayan solon ACT Teachers Party-list Rep. France Castro is up in arms over the lapsing into of Republic Act (RA) No.12027, which discontinues the mandatory use of the Mother Tongue as a medium of instruction from Kindergarten to Grade 3. 

"Removing the Mother Tongue as a medium of instruction is a step backward from providing better quality education to the youth," an upset Castro said in a statement Saturday, Oct. 12. 

"Ang pag-abandona sa Mother Tongue ay pagtalikod sa iba't ibang wika ng bansa at ang ambag nito sa iba't ibang kultura na mayroon ang ating bansa," she added. 

(Abandoning the Mother Tongue is like turning your back on the different dialects of the country and its contributions to the different cultures of our country.) 

The new law relegates the use of Mother Tongue to optional status in monolingual classes. 

Castro, a senatorial aspirant, emphasized the need to strengthen language and history education within the basic education curriculum. 

"As the Department of Education continues to review the Matatag curriculum, it seems to give little to no importance to subjects and methodologies crucial for critical thinking and genuine nationalism," said the teacher-solon. 

Castro highlighted that the challenges faced by the Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education (MTBMLE) program stem from inadequate government support rather than the program itself. 

"The Department of Education must improve the implementation of MTBMLE by providing adequate funds, not abandon it," she added. 

Castro also called for a nationalist, scientific, and mass-oriented curriculum. 

"Focusing basic education on creating 'employable' students by removing Mother Tongue and Philippine History does not provide holistic education. It simply creates robots that are prevented from using critical thinking and are taught to simply obey and follow."