Manila Ditches Bilingual policy for younger pupils

Mother tongues will replace the national language and English in the first three grades of state elementary schools in the Philippines, as part of a new government policy aimed at boosting early learning skills among children. Of the 170 region-based tongues spoken, 11 main ones cover most of the population and the switch to them in the early grades will start in the new school year in June for Grade 1 pupils. It follows a successful experiment by the education department to test mother-tongue teaching in 920 elementary schools nationwide last year.

Teachers are being told to expect more participation in the new curriculum year from pupils who are too reluctant to speak in class using Filipino or English if neither language is used at home. "The problem with the bilingual policy was that comprehension was very low in the early grades,"said Ms Rose Villaneza, head of the Department of Education's Mother Tongue-based Multilingual Education programme. "Using familiar mother tongues will help students freely express ideas - and that's important for cognitive development. "

Credits: The Straits Times