New law ends mother tongue instruction

An act discontinuing the use of mother tongue as a medium of instruction for kindergarten to Grade 3 has lapsed into law.

The law, Republic Act 12027, was passed by Congress on 22 July.

In the new measure, the medium of instruction shall revert to Filipino and English making the use of the mother tongue language auxiliary.

Meanwhile, monolingual classes may be conducted using the mother tongue as a medium of instruction provided it complies with the following requirements: an official orthography developed and published by the Komisyon ng Wikang Filipino (KWF); officially documented vocabulary published by the KWF such as dictionaries and encyclopedias; availability of literature on languages and culture; use of grammar book; and teachers who speak and trained to teach in the mother tongue.

A monolingual class refers to a group of learners who speak the same mother tongue and are enrolled in the same grade level in a given school year.

The Department of Education, on the other hand, shall develop a language mapping policy with the KWF within one year from the effectiveness of the Act.

According to the Official Gazette, if the President does not act on a proposed law submitted by Congress within 30 days, it will lapse into law.