The Department of Education (DepEd) on Monday, Oct. 17, said they are set to remove the Mother Tongue - Based Multilingual Education (MT-BMLE) subject of Kinder to Grade 3 (K to 3) learners to “decongest” the present curriculum.
During the Senate Committee Hearing on Basic Education, DepEd Undersecretary Epimaco Densing said upon revising the K to 10 curricula, the Curriculum and Instruction Strand agreed to remove the MT-BMLE subject.
He said the consensus decision was reached after months of extensive consultation with education sectors and stakeholders.
The 50 minutes of the subject would now be reallocated for national reading and math programs, according to Densing.
“We accept the fact that there is no need to formally put as a subject the mother tongue to the children because this is already considered their everyday language in school, in the community, and in family,“ he explained.
The MT-BMLE is a subject under the curriculum of the Kinder to Grade 12 (K to 12), in which students can learn their mother tongue or native languages and additional languages used in classrooms. This is a separate subject from Filipino and English subjects.
“Ang assumption dyan, naiintindihan na nila yan kapag itinuro na sa K to 3. Hindi na ito kailangan maging isang subject para ituro pa sa ating K to 3 learners,“ Densing added.
(The assumption here is that when the subject is taught in K to 3, they can understand it. The subject is not necessary to teach our K to 3 learners.)
He clarified that they agreed to remove the subject only, but the mother tongue language would be retained and still be used as a medium of instruction for learners.
“Base sa mandato ng K to 12, ipagpapatuloy pa rin natin ang paggamit ng mother tongue bahagi ng medium of instruction sa ating mga kabataan sa K to 3,“ Densing said.
He said the languages previously taught in mother tongue subjects would be used as a medium when teaching subjects like Filipino, English, Math, Araling Panlipunan, Good and Right Conduct (GMRC), Physical Education, Music, and Arts.
“Itong mga subject na ito labas sa English at Filipino, pwedeng ituro sa mother tongue. So kung Hiligaynon po iyan, pwedeng ituro ang Araling Panlipunan sa Hiligaynon. Kung Math iyan, pwedeng gamitin din sa pagtuturo ang Hiligaynon,“ he explained.
Densing said that before the curriculum revision, the mother tongue subject teaches Hiligaynon, Tagalog, and other languages.
“So, hindi na natin gagawin iyon. Mawawala na po iyon as a subject pero gagamitin pa rin po ito [as a medium of instruction] ng ating mga learners sa mga Grade one to three,“ he added.
(We are not going to do it anymore. The subject will be gone and but learners from Grades one to three will still use it.)
Densing said the removal of the subject has been inserted into the K to 10 revised curricula and is currently subject for finalization.
