Penalizing students for speaking Cebuano in school against law

CEBU, Philippines – Any school that penalizes students for speaking Cebuano and not English inside campuses violates the constitutional rights of the child to use his first language as a medium of instruction.

This is was what Valenzuela City Rep. Magtanggol Gunigundo emphasized yesterday during a press conference at the DECS Ecotech in Sudlon, Lahug.

Gunigundo also said they are filing a bill proposing to imprison whoever will penalize students for not speaking English because it is devaluing the language of the child. He also said that punishing students by making them pay certain amount for not speaking English inside a classroom is a form of child abuse. "English speaking zone" posted in schools must be removed, he added.

The Akademiyang Bisaya, Inc. (ABI), in partnership with the Department of Education-7, formally launched yesterday its "Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE)" through the signing of memorandum of agreement for the implementation of the policy.

ABI is a non-stock, non-profit, non-sectoral corporation composed of well-meaning personalities who bonded with a common advocacy which is to enrich the Sinugboanong Binisaya vocabulary and promote its proper usage while developing a standard reference to be used by academicians, mass media practitioners, government workers, church leaders, businessmen, language associations, and other interested writers. It also serves as a guardian of Sugboanon Bisaya cultural heritage.

The Akademiyang Bisaya is the lead proponent to the program using Bisaya as the medium of instruction for Grades I-III in Region 7 public schools. The program aims to help the Cebuano-speaking learners in their learning process, make them functionally literate for lifelong learning, build a strong foundation as basis for learning a second language, and develop the learners' thinking skills and improve their academic performance.

They proposed Bisaya as the medium of instruction because it is the language that the learners hear, speak, and use at home. Also it is the language that they understand as well as the language they come across in their daily communication and interaction with the members of their community. Lastly, Bisaya is the language of instruction and the language of literacy.

Gunigundo, in his presentation, stated that exercising the right of children to learn in their first language promotes literacy as it facilitates the learning process. Children understand what the teacher is saying if their own language is used. Children will also be able to think well and argue well.

There are two contending bills proposing a new language of instruction policy in the 15th Congress. One is the House Bill 162 or the Gunigundo Bill and the House Bill 93 Bill or the Gullas Bill.

Gunigundo is positive that House Bill 162 will soon be passed in the committee level because it already has a counterpart bill in the Senate. Also, President Aquino, is in favor of the multi-lingual education while the DepED also out its weight behind HB 162.

He said DepEd Order No. 74 also institutionalizes the MTB-MLE.

Dr. Recaredo Borgonia, DepEd-7 director, said that they had a pilot testing last year in two towns each of Negros, Cebu and Bohol. Negros expanded the program and applied it to the whole province.

"Makadasig ang feedback nga among nadawat," Borgonia said when asked how the people reacted to the program. He said that the parents of the children understand the program.

Borgonia said that they are now targeting at least 100 schools in Cebu but since there are more than 100 schools here, he added that they will first cluster as to what school it will be tested first. (FREEMAN)