THE Committee on Basic Education and Culture has endorsed for plenary deliberations a resolution urging the Department of Education to integrate foreign language studies into the K to 12 program, to acquaint learners with foreign languages other than English.

The resolution also aims to encourage them to learn foreign languages that will vastly improve their employability in the global labor markets of the 21st Century.

The committee approved House Resolution 1502 in substitution of House Resolution 910 both filed by House Minority Leader and 4Ps Partylist Rep. Marcelino Libanan seeking to integrate foreign language studies, other than English, in the school curriculum.

The solon said Filipino students can draw inspiration from national hero Jose Rizal, who developed a passion for learning foreign languages.

“Our school system by tradition has been teaching Filipino children to emulate and aspire to be like Rizal. We might as well encourage them to study foreign languages, just like Rizal,” Libanan said.

He cited that Rizal became conversant in Arabic, Catalan, Chinese, Dutch, English, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Latin, Portuguese, Russian, Sanskrit, Spanish, and Swedish because he was fascinated with foreign languages.

It can be recalled that Vice President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte, in her 2023 Basic Education Report, declared that DepEd intends to revise and improve the K to 12 program, with the view to developing lifelong learners who are competent and job-ready.

“The whole world has become a global village with multilingual labor markets, thus creating a strong demand for workers with foreign language skills,” Libanan said in his resolution.

The lawmaker added that exposing young learners to foreign languages will vastly improve their employability in the global labor markets of the 21st century.

He pointed out that global corporations based in the United States, China, and Japan – the world’s three largest economies – have been known to prefer hiring staff who can speak a second foreign language besides English.