Filipino language office supports DepEd order on English instruction

MANILA, June 9 (PNA) - The Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino (KWF) has expressed support to Executive
Order 210, which mandates all schools in the elementary and secondary levels to use English as a medium of
instruction to subjects like Science, Mathematics, Technology and Livelihood Education, Music, Arts,
Physical Education, Health and Citizenship Advancement Training.

In an interview, Ricardo Ma. Duran-Nolasco, chairman of the KWF, said that the Memorandum Order 36
issued by Education Secretary Jesli Lapuz, upholds the Bilingual Education Policy, which the government
had been implementing as early as the 1960s.

According to the KWF, English has always been the primary medium of instruction in terms of number of
hours in a regular school situation and he believes that it will continue to be as long as the Constitution
states the same wordings.

Nolasco stressed that according to Section 1(a) of EO 210, English shall be taught as a Second Language
starting with the First Grade, something that the KWF has advocated since its creation in 1992.

From then on, all other subjects will be taught in the vernacular until the end of the Second Grade, then
afterwards using English as the primary medium of instruction for English, Math and Science from Grade III
onwards.

Nolasco stressed that contrary to the idea of everybody that the Philippines uses bilingual policy in its
operations, the KWF was created specifically to promote all dialects in the country by ensuring that these
will be developed together with Filipino.

The Commissioner also mentioned the case of the school children in the Municipality of Lubwagan in the
Province of Kalinga, wherein the children scored higher in English, Math and Science because these subjects
were taught in the vernacular during Grades One and Two, while English was taught as a foreign language.

"English and Filipino should not be put in enmity," Nolasco said, pointing out that these two languages
(English and Filipino) have different roles in the learning of a child, as well as in real life when they will be
using them for practical purposes.

However, the KWF clarified that schools will not be enough a venue should the aim of this bilingual policy of
the government is fluency as the school provides lesser motivation to a student to be encouraged to utilize
and perfect the English language.

In this note, he explained that English will continue to exist as a foreign language as motivations will never
be enough to make people living in remote areas proficient in the language as the case in other countries,
whose official language is also English.

For the KWF, scientific researches have already given proof that a child needs at least 12 years before he
could master his first language and forcing them to learn a foreign language, like Filipino or English, in the
first grade will do nothing but retard their fluency in their native language.

He even defended EO 210 saying that it precisely protects the child by allowing him first to perfect his native
dialect before introducing English and Filipino as the primary medium of instruction on his higher year
levels.

Also, DepEd Order 36 clearly states nothing contrary to the accepted scientific linguistic facts that English
shall be taught as a foreign language during the 1st Grade, then only using English as the primary medium of
instruction on the 3rd Grade.

In Lapuz’ order, English will account to 1,440 minutes of the weekly instruction, which is 70 percent of the
total 2,040 minutes (or 6.8 hours) of instruction per week from 1st to 3rd Year high school, and 1,490
minutes (or 7.17 hours) for the 4th Year.

Nolasco said the order will only take mandate for those studying Elementary and High School as the law has
already granted Academic Freedom to all tertiary level education, giving them the power to choose whether
it is better to teach any subject into any language they deem effective.
In conclusion, the KWF explicitly expressed that they support English as a medium of instruction in the
same way they support Filipino as the National Language and the other existing Philippine dialects as the
auxiliary languages in every part of the country.

Source: http://www.gov.ph/news/?i=17852