SENATOR Sherwin Gatchalian wants Grades 1 to 3 students to have fewer subjects so that they will have more time to study English and Filipino lessons.

The chairman of the Senate committee on basic education said that Grades 1 to 3 students currently have eight subjects in their curriculum and English and Filipino subjects are only taught for 50 minutes each.

“It’s very difficult for teachers to teach eight subjects in a day. It’s very difficult for students to absorb three languages and study eight subjects in a day,” Gatchalian said.

The senator explained that there are circumstances that some students find it difficult to focus on their studies because they need to help their parents earn money while some have no electricity at night.

“So there are bottlenecks to learning. So, I do agree to lessen the subjects for Grades 1 to 3 and then increase the number of hours for English and Filipino,” Gatchalian added.

He proposed that English and Filipino subjects should be taught for two hours and mother tongue should be used as a medium of instruction for Grades 1 to 3.

“A student will have more time to learn English, more time to read in English, more time to learn Filipino, but the student will not lose his identity or his comprehension using the mother tongue,” he said.

The Department of Education earlier said it plans to revert to English and Filipino as mediums of instruction for primary learners.