Hannah Regine Diane T. Cogling
Years before children enter formal education, they use a certain language to communicate with their family and friends. This language is their mother tongue, the first language one learns from birth. Through this language, young individuals understand his/her community. As children grow up and start to access formal education, varied languages like Filipino (in Philippines setting) and English are introduced to them. These languages are then the official languages used in instruction, consequently prohibiting the use of the child’s mother tongue. In the Philippines, Mother Tongue Based Multilingual Education was enacted. It is an order legalizing the use of mother tongue in formal education.
Mother Tongue Based Multilingual Education is part of the international advocacy of UNESCO. It is under the program of Education for All (EFA). EFA, according to UNESCO, is a global commitment to provide quality basic education for all children, youth and adults. During the World International Forum in Dakar on 2000, which was considered as the most important event in education in this new century, the 1,100 participants including the 164 governments guaranteed to help achieve EFA on 2015. The project adapted the Dakar Framework for Action and the accomplishment of this program will be made possible with the help of UNESCO, the leading agency , and the partner agencies or sectors: United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA), United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (now United Nations Children’s Fund) (UNICEF), and the World Bank.
Since UNESCO promotes and supports Education for All, it is needless to say that it endorses the EFA’s sub-programs, and Mother Tongue Based Multilingual Education is of it. UNESCO’s position in Multilingualism can be summed up as promoting education in the mother tongue to improve the quality of education; encouraging bilingual/multilingual education at all levels of schooling as a means; and pushing languages as a central part of intercultural education.
Talking locally, the Department of Education of the Philippines (DepEd) issued order no. 74 s. 2009 signed by DepEd Secretary Jesli A. Lapuz on July 14, 2009 to institutionalize Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education in formal instruction. The first section of the order states that “The lessons and findings of various local initiatives and international studies in basic education have validated the superiority of the use of the leaner’s other tongue or first language in improving learning outcomes and promoting Education for All (EFA).” DepEd also mentioned in their order that MTBMLE is also referred to as MLE or the effective use of more than two languages for literacy and instruction.
Mother Tongue Based Multilingual Education is not an act to eliminate the use of other languages (aside from mother tongue) in formal education. It promotes the use of mother tongue in instruction for better student outcomes. Therefore, Mother Tongue Based Multilingual Education is the effective use of more than two languages for literacy and instruction.
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