PRESERVING LINGUISTIC DIVERSITY

JOSEPH H. GONZALES

The Department of Education (DepEd) wants increased awareness in the preservation of linguistic diversity to produce learners who are multi-literate, multilingual, and multicultural.

According to the agency, while the Mother Tongued-Based Multilingual Education (MTBMLE) has made progress, there should be a growing understanding of its importance, particularly in early schooling, and commitments to its development in public life.

Learning in the mother tongue is crucial in enhancing other skills such as critical thinking, skills to learn a second language, and literacy skills, the Department said.

The DepEd noted the importance of increasing advancement in vernacular language teaching to understand the importance of mother tongue-based education.

In efforts to push literacy, there is a challenge to review and reshape the curriculum anchored on learner-centered principles, including culture-based education that highlights mother tongue-based and multilingual teaching to promote humanity and inclusivity.

Multilingual development occurs because of various influences. We continue to propagate MTB-MLE in schools by creating and using instructional materials on the different languages in teaching to sustain preservation efforts and suspend them from extinction.

According to UNESCO, 40% of the global population has little or no access to education in their first language, which leads to more languages becoming extinct.

Meanwhile, the National Commission for Culture and Arts (NCCA), commended the efforts of the Department for its national policies that encapsulates the importance of strengthening the Philippines’ mother language.

In Southeast Asia, the Philippines is the only country to have instituted a national policy (DepEd Order No. 74, series of 2009) requiring MTB-MLE in the primary school years.

-oOoThe at San Antonio Elementary School, Arayat West District

author is Principal I