Statements re House Bill No. 6125 Suspending MTB-MLE (Updated Feb 26)

Congressman Romulo Roman filed House Bill No. 6125 proposing the suspension of the implementation of Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education. The following are statements from various groups.

1. Linguistics Society of the Philippines
2. English Department, Ateneo de Manila University 
3. College of Education, UPIS - University of the Philippines Diliman
4. UP College of Education Student Council
5. Talaytayan MLE Inc
6. UNESCO-Bangkok 

UNESCO-Bangkok 
PDF version - https://tinyurl.com/u38becw

 The MTB-MLE provisions of Republic Acts 10533 (2013) were based on extensive research and pilot programs, carried out by Filipino and international scholars, with strong support from local and international NGOs, as well as leaders of many of the Philippines’ diverse cultural communities. This research found that children whose early education was provided in the mother tongue actually learn a second language better, and have a better grasp of concepts in Math, Science and other content areas. In other words, mother tongue instruction does not detract from English language learning, but improves all learning.
Similar research carried out in both “developed” countries such as the United States, Australia, and Finland, as well as “developing” countries such as Thailand, Cambodia, India, and Timor Leste, confirms the effectiveness of mother tongue-based education.
While there is universal agreement that English skill are very important for students worldwide, important questions remain as to the best way to teach English to non-native speakers. The consensus of international research is the English-only “submersion” is not an effective method. In 2016, British Council Research Head John Knapp decried “Asia’s suicidal rush into early English,” warning that language-in-education policies based on political expediency rather than research were hurting children.

Talaytayan MLE Inc

The suspension of MTBMLE implementation is a step backward in our quest to offer learners better quality basic education and a setback for human rights, diversity and inclusion. The suspension shall lay waste numerous policy gains from implementation, which are in abundance if we care to collect field information. MTBMLE has produced encouraging results especially in areas where cultures converge and collide even. In Mindanao, MTBMLE is embraced in communities. People view it as a feeder to promoting a culture of peace and tolerance in areas that have seen violence and neglect for decades

UP College of Education Student Council

Ngayon na natukoy na mismo ng mga opisyal ng pamahalaan ang ilang mga kahinaan ng programa, nararapat lamang na agaran itong aksyunan nang sa gayon ay hindi na lumawak pa ang pawang mga suliranin.

University of the Philippines - College of Education, UP Integrated School 

Although many studies found flaws in the implementation of MTB-MLE in the Philippines, none of them recommended the suspension of the program... 

English Department, Ateneo de Manila University 

MTB-MLE should be valued, maintained and protected

The Linguistics Society of the Philippines
 House Bill No. 6125 blames the lack of instructional materials and treats this as the fundamental basis for the suspension of MTB-MLE in the country. What we need, however, is a concerted effort and a political will to capacitate the concerned government sectors, particularly the Department of Education (DepEd), to work in collaboration with universities, professional organizations, book companies, and non-profit government organizations, in order to produce teaching and learning materials needed by both instructors and schoolchildren to effectively implement the use of the mother tongue or first language in basic education.