Scrapping mother tongue teaching is ill-advised

AFTER the Department of Education (DepEd) disclosed its plan to remove the mother tongue as a medium of teaching in basic education until Grade 3 in its new basic education curriculum, Congress has also now made its move. Senate Bill 2457 recently passed on third and final reading, becoming the first bill passed by the Senate in the third regular session of the 19th Congress.

The bill, sponsored by Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian, also seeks to discontinue the use of the mother tongue as a medium of instruction from kindergarten to the first three years of elementary education. The House already approved House Bill 6717 in February of last year. Thus, it is now the turn of the bicameral conference committee to reconcile and consolidate the two bills. After ratification by the Senate and the House, the reconciled bill would then go to the desk of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. for action.