A dialect or a language spoken in a particular region is the least preferred medium of instruction for Grades 1 to 3, the results of a Pulse Asia survey showed.
This prompted Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, who commissioned the survey, to push for a thorough and rigorous review of the implementation of the Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE), which is mandated by the K to 12 law.
“Based on our observation of the abilities of schools and what the survey respondents said, we need to study our next steps on the use of the mother tongue,” said Gatchalian, pupils…chairman of the Senate Committee on Basic Education.
“If we are to pursue this policy, we must respond to the challenges related to it,” he added.
The survey asked 1,200 respondents what language should be used as the primary mode of instruction for Grades 1 to 3 students.
Only 38 percent picked the dialect in their region, while Filipino was the most preferred (88 percent), followed by English (71 percent).
The K to 12 law mandates that the education, instruction, teaching materials, and assessment from kindergarten up to Grade 3 shall be in the regional or native language of the learners.
The Department of Education is tasked to formulate a mother language transition program from Grades 4 to 6 so that Filipino and English shall be gradually introduced as languages of instruction.
At the secondary level, the two languages will become the primary languages of instruction.
Only 72,872 out of the targeted 305,099 educators underwent training, according to a public hearing last year on the implementation of the MTB-MLE. The figure already includes supervisors, school heads, and teachers.