SENSING hesitation from the Department of Education (DepEd) on using the child’s first language or the child’s mother tongue in teaching, a lawmaker championing the Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education (MTBMLE) system has called on Sec. Armin Luistro to get rid of the old language of instruction and implement mother tongue-based teaching in the first 6 years, at the least, of elementary education.
Valenzuela City Rep. Magtanggol Gunigundo laments that DepEd is still married to the current bilingual system of teaching, without minding that Filipino children’s performance in school are among the worst in the world.
In his privilege speech delivered yesterday during the celebration of the International Mother Language Day, Rep. Gunigundo urged Sec. Luistro and his department to look closely on the situation and listen to what the children feels about the current educational system.
“I urge the Secretary to send his people to the field, make them interact with the teachers who are faced with the challenge of teaching school children in the language that they do not understand,” Rep. Gunigundo said.
As the principal author of HB 162 titled, “The Multilingual Education and Literacy Act,” Rep. Gunigundo is pushing for the use of the child’s first language as medium of instructions in school for eight years, as opposed to what the DepEd is posed to implement.
“I am strongly opposed to the implementation of MTBMLE until grade 3 only, because international research have shown that six years of teaching in mother tongue is an absolute minimum,” explains Rep. Gunigundo. “K+12 with 3 years of MTBMLE is weakest and least desirable set up for functional literacy goals and acquisition of second language purposes,” he added.
“Unless they have studies to prove that three years of mother tongue language of instruction is better than the eight years, then I will retract my stand and will support them,” he said. “Until then, the school performance of children will continue to suffer,” warned Rep. Gunigundo. –SAMMY MARTIN REPORTER, Manila Times
It’s women’s month!
“Support women every day of the year!”
Invoke Article 33 of the ILO constitution
against the military junta in Myanmar to carry out the 2021 ILO Commission of Inquiry recommendations against serious violations of Forced Labour and Freedom of Association protocols.
Accept National Unity Government
(NUG) of Myanmar.
Reject Military!
#WearMask #WashHands #Distancing #TakePicturesVideos
Monthly Observances:
Women’s Role in History Month
Weekly Observances:
Week 1: Environmental Week
Women’s Week
Week 3: Philippine Industry and Made-in-the-Philippines
Products Week
Last Week: Protection and Gender-Fair Treatment
of the Girl Child Week
Daily Observances:
March 8: Women’s Rights and
International Peace Day;
National Women’s Day
Mar 4— Employee Appreciation Day
Mar 15 — World Consumer Rights Day
Mar 18 — Global Recycling Day
Mar 21 — International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
Mar 23 — International Day for the Right to the Truth concerning Gross Human Rights Violations and for the Dignity of Victims
Mar 25 — International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade
Mar 27 — Earth Hour
