Results of the 2003 Functional Literacy Education and Mass Media Survey revealed that out of 57.59 million Filipinos aged 10 to 64 years old, there were 5.24 million Filipinos who could not read and write; 7.83 million who could not read, write and compute and 18.37 million could not read, write, compute and comprehend. What an alarming situation.
The foregoing revelation brings us to the bare truth that there’s a prevalence of high functional illiteracy among Filipinos. This has been attributed mainly to the language of literacy and medium of instruction used in schools.
Illiteracy, to a wider extent, has been identified by educators as one of the major causes of poor academic performance, low retention and high drop-out rates in schools.
Why use the mother tongue as the first language (L1) in school? Mother Tongue is typically the first language of the child and the language of the home. It can also be construed as the language of primary socialization, the language developed by a child from an early childhood. Mother Tongue education implies a linguistically homogeneous community, a teacher who speaks the language, and the curriculum materials in the mother tongue.
Several pilot projects relating to the Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE) disclose that the teachers observed a remarkable level of participation among students because they could readily relate the lessons to their own experiences, prior knowledge and other socio-cultural background.
Thus, the school or classroom is not an alien place for them anymore. Since children were much adept in their mother tongue, they learned faster and better. More so, they learned to read quickly and fluently.
Mother Tongue-Based instruction provides an opportunity for our children to exercise their right to learn in their first language. Therefore, it promotes literacy, as it hastens the learning process. They are able to: a) understand what the teacher is saying, b) think well c) argue well and d) question properly and critically.
Mother Tongue-Based instruction is one of the effective interventions of DepEd in improving the quality of Philippine education that could better prepare individuals to live a life of abundance after school. As Cong. Magtanggol Gunigundo of Valenzuela puts it: “Education is power and language is the key to accessing that power.
Wendisprinda L. Silva
Division Coordinator
MTB-MLE, Tanjay City Division