The Philippines is one of the largest English-speaking nations globally, and the destination where foreigners choose to study English. Today’s children are fond of speaking in English compared to Filipino. For some, it is a sign of intelligence when a kid speaks English at a young age. But not all Children speak English. Many children don’t speak Filipino. They have, as their mother tongue, one of the hundreds of languages spoken around the archipelago. 

Despite this diversity, the government granted House Bill No. 6717 last February, which halts the first language as a medium of instruction. It has yet to pass in the Senate. 

Learning all subjects at a competent level is not something that comes easily to a lot of students. Some of them struggle with understanding science, while others find writing difficult, many more dread math. Now imagine going through all that but in an unfamiliar language.

Filipino teachers today call out for DepEd not to suspend the mother tongue curriculum in their early-grade education (Kindergarten to Grade 3), they want it reviewed and improved. They stress it is DepEd’s responsibility to produce more resources, modules, and materials in various Filipino languages to address the scarcity rather than put more on the children to learn on top of their subjects.

When students truly understand the subject matter, they can achieve great results, and doing nothing about the roadblocks that stifle learning will only lead to decreased value and effectiveness in their education. The idea that these students should all be learning the blanket Filipino or English so early could also harm the future of their unique culture and identity. 

Education is VITAL to everyone. Muddying a student’s relationship with learning will only make their ability to learn harder. But start them off on the right foot, and the children of tomorrow will surely run laps around us all. 

With inputs by Snow Schnabel