Bill ceasing use of mother tongue for kinder to Grade 3 lapses into law

A proposed measure which aims to discontinue the use of the mother tongue as a medium of instruction from kindergarten to Grade 3 and providing for its optional implementation in monolingual classes lapsed into law on Saturday without President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr.'s signature.

Republic Act No. 12027 also amends Sections 4 and 5 of the Republic Act No. 10533 otherwise known as the "Enhanced Basic Education Act of 2013."

"The medium of instruction shall revert to Filipino and, until otherwise provided by law, English, pursuant to Article XIV, Section 7 of the 1987 Constitution. The regional languages shall serve as auxiliary media of instruction," the law read.

Under Section 2 of the Republic Act, the principles and framework of the Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education (MB-MLE) as embodied under Section 5(f) of Republic Act No. 10533 may be applied in monolingual classes, provided that the Mother Tongue as the medium of instruction complies with the following requirements:

• an official orthography developed and published by the Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino (KWF);
• officially documented vocabulary published by the KWF such as glossary, dictionary, encyclopedia, or thesaurus;
• literature on languages and culture, such as big books, small books, picture stories, or wordless picture books;
• grammar book; and
• availability of teachers in the school who speak and are trained to teach in the Mother Tongue.

Under the Act, a monolingual class refers to a group of learners speaking the same Mother Tongue and are enrolled in the same grade level in a given school year.

Meanwhile, the Department of Education (DepEd), in consultation with the KWF, has been tasked to develop a language mapping policy within one year from the effectivity of the Act and implement a language mapping framework to properly identify and classify students based on their Mother Tongue to systematically determine the existence of monolingual classes per school year.

Further, the DepEd shall conduct a review of the optional implementation of the MTB-MLE Program in monolingual classes, including learner assessment, teacher recruitment and  matching, development of learning resources published in the Mother Tongue, capacity-building efforts for teachers, and funding requirements for the program, three years after the effectivity of the Act and every three years thereafter.

The report shall be submitted to the President, the Senate, and the House of Representatives not later than June 30 following the year of review. The report shall also include recommendations to address gaps in the law and/or the implementation of this Act.

The report shall further include recommendations on whether to continue or discontinue the optional use of the Mother Tongue as medium of instruction in monolingual classes based on the review conducted by the DepEd.

The DepEd, KWF, and other education stakeholders shall issue the rules and regulations implementing its provisions within 90 days from the effectivity of the Act. The implementing rules and regulations shall take effect 30 days after its publication in a newspaper of general circulation.

The Act will take effect on October 27, or 15 days following its publication in the Official Gazette or in a newspaper of general curriculum.

Republic Act No. 12027 was both signed by House Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez and Senate President Francis "Chiz" Escudero. —KG, GMA Integrated News