DepEd 7 chief backs ending the use of mother tongue as mode of instruction

Local

THE chief of the Department of Education-Central Visayas (DepEd-7) has expressed support for the recent discontinuation of the use of the mother tongue as the primary medium of instruction for early education.

DepEd-7 regional director Salustiano Jimenez of cited the challenges posed by the region’s linguistic diversity in a media forum on Tuesday, October 15.

He noted that the multitude of Sinugbuanong Binisaya dialects across the region has complicated efforts to standardize educational materials.

Jimenez explained that Central Visayas has at least 11 different variations of Sinugbuanong Binisaya, which makes it nearly impossible to create a single textbook that would be universally understood in all parts of the region.

He pointed out that words used in Cebu, for instance, may have completely different meanings in Negros Oriental or Bohol.

"For me, it's a welcoming development, especially here in Region 7," Jimenez said during the Kapihan sa Bagong Pilipinas forum.

He emphasized that despite the law not yet being fully implemented, the region has already begun transitioning to the use of Filipino and English as the primary languages of instruction for students from Kindergarten to Grade 3.

He also stressed the difficulty of imposing a standardized Bisaya vocabulary across different areas.

“If we come up with a pool of vocabulary from Cebu and impose it on the whole region, it won’t be applicable in other areas," Jimenez said.

This shift comes after the recent enactment of Republic Act (RA) No. 12027, which officially discontinues the use of mother tongues as the primary medium of instruction for Kindergarten to Grade 3 students.

The law, which took effect on October 11, amends sections of RA No. 10533, also known as the Enhanced Basic Education Act of 2013.

Under the new law, Filipino and English will be the main languages of instruction, with regional languages serving as supplementary tools in the classroom.

The law also allows for optional implementation in monolingual classes, where students speak the same mother tongue, providing flexibility for schools with more linguistically homogenous student populations.

Jimenez believes this change will ease the burden on educators and make the learning process more consistent across the region, as the complexities of producing region-specific teaching materials for multiple dialects will no longer pose a barrier.(MyTVCebu)