SENATOR Sherwin Gatchalian on Wednesday said that the application of mother tongue as medium of instruction in schools comes with challenges.

The Gatchalian-led Senate Committee on Basic Education is conducting an inquiry into the implementation of the Mother-Tongue Based Multilingual Education.

It is part of a series of public hearings aimed at reviewing the K to 12 basic education curricula under Republic Act 10533.

“The Philippines is beautiful not only because of its 7,100 islands, but because of its diverse culture and diverse traditions. And part of that diversity is its diverse language,” Gatchalian said.

“But having said that, the application of language to education, especially to medium of education, is not without challenges,” he added.

The senator sought to hear the status, as well as the impacts, of the MTB-MLE from education officials, experts and stakeholders since the enactment of RA 10533 in 2013.

“We need to understand, in the context of the Philippine setting, can we overcome those challenges, and when?” Gatchalian said.