Mariano Marcos University has just created a new program - MA Education - Ilokano Studies... I heard the good news from Dr. Agcaoili /Dr Visaya that other state universities/colleges in Region I are also planning to start offering Ilokano in their curriculum....I hope other teacher education institutions in other regions would do the same... MA Ed - Cordilleran Studies in BSU would be wonderful. MA Ed - Multilingual/Multicultural Education is another possibility. We need to equip our teachers and educational leaders so that that the MTBMLE program that we have will be grounded (thru research and practice) on local languages/cultures in the area...
MA-Ed Filipino should also be reframed so that Fiipino will be de-centered and be taught in the context of a multilingual society where all languages are valued equally.... each language should be recognized and allowed to flourish on its own...we should not allow that one language (be it Tagalog or Ilokano), no matter how "developed" it is, to impose its own rules on other languages...
