Dep-Ed Cordillera backs bill suspending use of mother tongue in K-3

Baguio City, Philippines – Regional Director of Department of Education – Cordillera, Estela P. Leon-Cariño expressed support for the suspension of the use of mother tongue as the medium of instruction for Kindergarten to Grade 3.

The Enhanced Basic Education Act of 2013 mandates instruction, teaching materials, and assessment in K-3 in the regional or native language of the learners.

In February 2023, the House of Representatives approved on the third and final reading House Bill 6717, seeking for suspension of such, arguing that there is a lack of learning materials written in the mother tongue languages in the majority of schools nationwide.

During the second public hearing of the Senate Committee on Basic Education on the implementation of the Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE) which focused on HB 6717, Cariño who served as resource speaker presented the region’s standpoint on the matter.

The regional director through DepEd – Cordillera’s position paper recommended that the regional or local languages be ‘relegated as auxiliary media of instruction.’

“It is proposed specifically in the position paper that English and Filipino will be used as media of instruction while regional or local languages will be used as supplementary for a detailed clarification of learning topics,” said the regional education department in a press release.

Praying that the lawmakers will be considering their appeal, Cariño likewise provided an update on the current implementation of MTB-MLE in the region.

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