I am part of the generation that grew up with the Philippine Bilingual Education Policy (BEP), found in Articles XIV Section 7 of the 1987 Consitution:

c. Filipino and English shall be used as media of instruction,
the use allocated to specific subjects in the curriculum as
indicated in Department Order No. 25, s. 1974.

d. The regional languages shall be used as auxiliary media of
instruction and as initial language for literacy where needed.

e. Filipino and English shall be taught as language subjects
in all levels to achieve the goals of bilingual competence.

f. Since competence in the use of both Filipino and English is
one of the goals of the Bilingual Education Policy, continuing
improvement in the teaching of both languages, their use as media
of instruction and the specification of their functions in
Philippines schooling shall be the responsibility of the whole
educational system.

Seems straightforward enough. However, there has been an acknowledged and constant decline in the English proficiency of Filipinos since the time this law was passed.

Recently, two bills are being reviewed in the House of Representatives regarding the MOI or medium of instruction used in our schools:

• HB 4701: English is the MOI in all subjects except for Grade 1.
• HB 3719: I tend to agree with Valenzuela Rep Magtanggol Gunigundo’s argument for a multilingual education policy.

Here are my two cent’s worth on language, education and bilingual policies:

First, a language policy is only as good as the people implementing it. If the teachers themselves are not able to speak either the mother language or the target language well, the students would end up learning a confusing mix of the two. Also, teachers and school administrators must understand the rationale behind the language policy and exactly how it should be implemented. My classmates in MA shared that the private and public schools where they teach have their own interpretations of the BEP. Some are even sticking to an English-only policy in the campus, totally ignoring the 1987 ruling, in the belief that this will help their students speak the language better. Not! Why?

Because the language (or languages) spoken at home is also a factor, and thus affects how students will cope with a bilingual language policy and learn a second language. The majority of Filipinos do not consider Filipino or English as their mother tongue since they speak one of the over 200 regional languages in the country. Note that strictly speaking, Kapampangan, Ilocano, Cebuano, Bisaya, etc are not dialects; they are languages because they are mutually incomprehensible. Most students do not even speak English or Filipino at home and they will often be teased as a show-off if they do use either language in everyday conversations.

Lastly, exposure to media is also very influential in determining whether the students will become successful bilinguals. Uh-oh. We all know that except for expensive cable programming, most TV shows use a confusing mix of Tagalog, English, and street lingo. Even children’s cartoons are dubbed in Taglish! Also, reading books (except for the Twilight and Harry Potter series) has become quite unpopular next to computer games.

In short, I don’t think having an English-only policy  will solve the problem/s in the Philippine education system. Recommendations to follow… when I write my Master’s thesis. =)