Many Filipino students living in Manila and the provinces remain “foreign” to their national language – Filipino – despite the annual celebration of National Language Month (Buwan ng Wika) every August.
Majority of the students outside Manila do not speak Filipino whether they are at home or in school, according to the Department of Education (DepEd). Filipino can even be considered as a “foreign” language to some students who are enrolled in private and exclusive schools where speaking English is common.
“We’re all Filipinos but we are not all Filipino speakers since we are a multi-lingual country,” said DepEd Curriculum Development Division (CDD) OIC Dr. Rosalina Villaneza.
While Filipino – as a subject – has always been a part of the basic education curriculum, it remains a language that is not used by all students.
Recently, teaching the Filipino language, and using Filipino as classroom language has also become controversial with the revision of the General Education Curriculum (GEC) approved by the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) last year. The revision is a result of the implementation of the Senior High School (SHS) Program under K to 12.
Filipino units – along with courses in English, Literature, Math, Natural Sciences, Humanities, and Social Sciences – are among those removed in the new GEC.
RETAIN FILIPINO SUBJECT
This led advocates of the Filipino such as the “Tanggol Wika” – an alliance of around 70 schools, colleges, universities, linguistic and cultural organizations, and concerned citizens – to protest, demanding to retain Filipino as a subject in college.
Last July, CHEd approved public consultation for mandatory teaching of at least nine units of the new GE courses in Filipino. While “Tanggol Wika” lauded the move, it continues to condemn CHEd for its “stubborn refusal” to retain Filipino as a subject in the tertiary level.
For DepEd, removing Filipino as a subject in the new GEC will eliminate “redundancy” since most of the GE courses will be taught in the senior high school. Villaneza said that new K to 12 curriculum has been designed to over basic Filipino subjects.
MOTHER TONGUE
Villaneza said that “in the Philippines, we tend to forget our heritage language” –with Filipino as national language and English as the foreign language.”
Despite the bilingual education policy, Villaneza said that in reality, “teachers are using the ‘mother tongue’ when teaching so students would understand.” The ‘mother tongue’ is the language that the child speaks.
The Mother Tongue Based-Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE) is a formal or non-formal education in which the learner’s mother tongue is used in the classroom as a “bridge” in learning Filipino and English.
Before that program, many students were discouraged to go to school simply because they don’t understand the lessons. Among kinder to Grade 3 pupils, teachers say that students would just stare at them without interacting when they teach the subjects in English,” Villaneza said.
DepEd implemented the MTB-MLE in 2012. “The design is [that] literacy begins in the mother tongue first,” Villaneza said.
170 LANGUAGES
The Philippines has over 170 languages. While it is ideal to use all these at the same time for the program, Villaneza said it might not be possible due to major considerations including the availability of teachers. To date, there are 19 languages being used in MTB-MLE in various regions.
TAGALOG VS FILIPINO
Among the initial challenges faced by DepEd is the variation in languages, for instance, the issue between Tagalog and Filipino. “Linguists would always say that Filipino is Tagalog-based so there’s no difference in structure and grammar. But there are variations in the Tagalog spoken in some provinces,” Villaneza explained.
To address this, DepEd uses the principle of “majority rule.” “The teachers will use the language that is understood by most of the students,” Villaneza said. In classes where students are multi-lingual or using at least three languages (Filipino, English and Mother Tongue), sectioning or grouping is an option.
Villaneza, however, stressed that while MTB-MLE aims to start “where the students are” – the goal is towards multi-lingualism.
‘BUWAN NG WIKA’
“Buwan ng Wika” declared by Proclamation 1041, was signed by former President Fidel Ramos in 1997, declaring the annual national celebration of the National Language Month every August.
Prior to this declaration, “Linggo ng Wika” was celebrated from August 13 to 19 or the birth week of former President Manuel Quezon, the “Father of the National Language.”
To increase students’ awareness on the national language, “Buwan ng Wika” is celebrated by students in both private and public schools nationwide.