VALUES EDUCATION: ITS IMPORTANCE IN OUR CURRICULUM

The Department of Education (DepEd) exerted all efforts to address the continuing deteriorating of basic education pushed for the use of the Mother-Tongue Based and Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE) after finding out the dismal performance of Filipino students, as well as, low test scores in National Achievement Test (NAT) which was being attributed to low proficiency in English – the language of the tests. There was a quick survey of memoranda , circulars and orders from DepEd reveals three dominant ELT practices in the Philippines namely, the Communicative Language Teaching Approach, English for Specific Purpose and Task–Based Language Teaching Approach.

But in the Philippines, the introduction of new language teaching approaches is always welcome. Evident is the implementation of the Mother –Tongue Based and Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE). Such implementation poses challenges on instructional materials development, teacher training and language instruction. There were teachers who are not properly trained to teach the discipline.

Training programs were conducted, however, many felt inadequate to teach the subject due to the lack of instructional materials and fluency in speaking the mother tongue. The introduction of the new K-12 program ushered in the implementation of the use of the Mother Tongue or the learners’first language in the classroom. From the time MTB-MLE was implemented, classroom teachers are divided on whether or not MTB-MLE is right for them and their students. Although when MTB-MLE was launched, there were many promises about the great value that it can bring improvements but there were still many questions remain unanswered. Mother–Tongue is essential foundation for all learning and thus, it is important that all children use their mother tongue when they enter the school for the first time.

It is believed that through language, a child is familiar with, the child is able to access the power of education, to develop the self-esteem and pride and his potentials. Though it provides a positive effect towards academic performance and the pride of our heritage, the use of mother tongue, but it advocates an insufficient readiness, trainings and other problems. Since MTB-MLE is part and a law in the Philippine Educational System, there must be a close and diligent monitoring or MTB-MLE as the basic key in learning. MTB-MLE teachers should assume a greater responsibility for their own professional learning and continuously developing their own knowledge and skills.

— oOo— The author is Teacher III at Betis High School

More than fifty countries have recognised the importance of value education in the school curriculum, and even those that have not, undoubtedly recognise the fundamental fact that children need to grow up with a sound system of values if they are to mature into good human beings and responsible citizens.

So far so good; but the catch lies in the poser, ‘Who is going to decide on the system of values to be imparted, and what, indeed, will be the values?’

As things stand in our country, a general directive has been issued to educational institutions that value education should form a part of their curriculum, but the details have been left for the schools to work out themselves.

All in all, the move has not paid rich dividends. While it is true that some of the better schools undertake social service programmes in their neighbourhood (at times even without linking it with value education) or stage mock parliaments to prepare their children for leadership and good citizenship, it is also a fact that a majority of schools are not very comfortable with the subject, and just go through the motions of teaching it.

One cannot blame them either: firstly, in the absence of a definite syllabus and trained teachers on the subject, the classes meander and finally lose their way. Secondly, it is a subject in which there is no provision for assessment, with the result that it ends up being largely ignored— as much by children as by their parents.

So where do we begin? That is a difficult question, but before we even try to answer it, an important point needs to be borne in mind. In a democracy, different sets of values coexist. What is right for one particular group may be wrong for another.

Let us take the ideal of speaking the truth, which almost all institutions have included in their list of values to be imparted to the children. Supposing a gangster, looking for an innocent would- be victim whose whereabouts you happen to know, asks you if you have seen the person, do you blurt out the truth, or do you take recourse to a lie which, many would contend, is, in this instance, more virtuous than the truth? When we deal with value education, it would be advisable not to talk in terms of absolutes, but keep our attitudes flexible.

As knowledge expands and education spreads, a whole lot of people get cleverer, but they do not become happier, and the world they help to build does not become any better. Why? Because cleverness is hollow when it does not have good values to back it. It is like a dry well.

There is an urgent need, therefore, to improve the quality of value education currently prevalent in our country. How that can be done is a matter that our best minds would do well to give their prompt attention to.

— oOo— The author is SST I at MNHS