If the DepEd and Congress retain the Mother Tongue-based Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE) policy, they will be perpetuating the severe reading literacy handicap being caused by the delay in the teaching of reading in English to the second semester of Grade 2 instead of the Grade 1 like in the previous language policies.
This was the warning voiced by this correspondent during the national forum on the MTB-MLE on February 22 organized by the Department of Education (DepEd) and the USAID to elicit inputs for the ongoing review of the policy where he was invited to present a position statement.
He told the forum that the delayed reading timetable meant that our Grade 4 pupils who took the 2019 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) were reading in the test language for one year and a half at most compared to the three years the examinees from other countries have already been reading in their test languages which he said made the countrys bottom finish not surprising,
It is very likely that among all countries joining international student assessments, the Philippines is the only one which does not teach reading in the test language in Grade 1 making it the favorite for the cellar, he said.
He also told the forum that keeping the policy will be extending the life of a complete failure. He presented evidence that into the ninth year, the MTB-MLE has not delivered on its four promises contained in DepEd Order No. 74, series of 2009. (Please see TIMSS results debunk claim English reason for poor student performance in Math and Science, January 28, 2021)
He warned the DepEd and Congress they cannot hide the flaws of the MTB-MLE forever because the public will e4ventually be able to connect the very poor English proficiency of school children to the sacrifice of English in favor of Mother Tongue in the curriculum despite the fact that in the current setup, English is the main medium of instruction in our education system, is the country’s local and international assessment language and is the global lingua franca.
There was no reaction to the position statement of this correspondent from the DepEd and from Congressman Marques Go who filed House Bill No. 6405 seeking the abolition of the MTb-MLE and Senator Sherwin Gatchalian who participated in the forum. **By Estanislao Albano, Jr.
