THE ALLIANCE of Concerned Teachers said that the abolition of Mother Tongue in the new curriculum of students from Kinder to Grade 10 will weaken nationalism among the youth.

The group agreed that the development of foundational literacy skills should be done in the primary years of education but it argued that the abolition of mother tongue is part of developing the children’s literacy skills.

“The teaching of Mother Tongue as a subject is foundational in developing literacy skills as learners can learn to read and write the easiest with the language that they use and most understand. Mother Tongue also enhances the awareness and appreciation of learners of their cultural identity, and preserves and nurtures our own culture,” Vladimer Quetua, the group’s chairperson, said.

The group also decried the merging of Social Studies with Music-Arts-Physical Education-Health.

“The merging of Araling Panlipunan with MAPEH into Sibika, Sining at Kultura, Kasaysayan at Kagalingang Pangkatawan effectively cuts down teaching time for a very diverse set of subject areas that are essential in developing national and cultural identity, critical thinking, nationalism, as well as a healthy lifestyle,” Quetua said.

He said that the real agenda behind the new curriculum is not really for learners to have a mastery of the vital lessons but to make them marketable to foreign employers.

“DepEd’s proposed revisions to the K to 12 curriculum seem to veer education further away from addressing the learning crisis and correcting the problems of the original K-12 curriculum, which have long diluted the inculcation of nationalism with the abolition of the Philippine History subject in junior high school, and watering down of the contents of Araling Panlipunan and Filipino subjects,” Quetua said.