THE ALLIANCE of Concerned Teachers asked President Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr. to make Filipino the medium of instruction in schools so that students can better understand their lessons.

“While the neoliberal metrics of international assessments like the Program for International Student Assessment and Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study are questionable, language barrier is a basic reason why the Philippines lag behind and our students are at a disadvantage in these tests,” the group said.

“Countries who usually take the top tier of these assessments are those whose main medium of instruction is their national language, that is why learning is well facilitated, and they perform better in the tests which were conducted in their own languages,” Vladimer Quetua, the group’s chairperson, said.

“In the Philippines, the assessment is done in English as it is the main medium of instruction. This is a big impediment to student learning because they have to master the English language first before they can learn science and math concepts.  In the classroom, they also cannot freely express themselves because English is not their vernacular. This dilemma also clips their ability for critical thinking and in formulating arguments,” he added.

Although there is a Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education Law and the Bilingual Education Policy, English remains to be the language used in our educational system, Quetua said.

“Ang misyon ng edukasyon ay hindi lamang para magkaroon ng magandang trabaho kundi para sa pambansang pag-unlad. Ito dapat ang pinagmumulan ng mga solusyon para sa problema ng lipunan. Para magampanan ito, ang mga mag-aaral ay dapat na may malalim na pag-unawa sa kalagayan ng lipunan, may malakas na damdaming makabayan at pagpapahalaga sa mga salalayan ng demokrasya. Kung kaya kasinghalaga rin ng Math at Science ang Araling Panlipunan, Edukasyon sa Pagpapakatao, pag-aaral sa kultura at panitikan, at sa pambansang wika na siyang simbolo ng ating pambansang identidad” he said.