DepEd: Use both English, Filipino to teach in K-3

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Education (DepEd) has ordered the shift to English and Filipino as the primary tools of instruction for Kindergarten to Grade 3 learners, in compliance with Republic Act (RA) 12027, which ends the mandatory use of mother tongue in early education.

In DepEd Order 20, Education Secretary Sonny Angara said “the medium of instruction for Kindergarten to Grade 3 shall primarily be Filipino and English, including Filipino Sign Language for deaf and hard-of-hearing learners.”

Regional languages, he added, will still serve as auxiliary instruction tools “using translanguaging to support the transition of all types of learners from one language to another.”

RA 12027, or An Act Discontinuing the Use of Mother Tongue as Medium of Instruction from Kindergarten to Grade 3, still permits optional use of the learner’s language in monolingual classrooms and in community learning centers that meet specified conditions, including those under the Indigenous Peoples Education Program.

“This order shall rescind the language provisions for Key Stage 1 in DepEd Order 010, series of 2024, otherwise known as the Policy Guidelines on the Implementation of the MATATAG Curriculum,” Angara said. “All other related issuances, rules, regulations and provisions that are
 inconsistent with this order are repealed, rescinded or modified accordingly.”

While mother tongue-based education showed promise, Angara explained that in particular areas where students share a common first language, scaling it nationally proved difficult.

“Classrooms across the country that are multilingual or characterized by language variation faced challenges, making uniform implementation difficult,” he said.

He cited problems such as “the lack of developmentally appropriate and localized reading materials in the first language, inadequate teacher preparation and top-down policy execution,” all of which hindered the program’s broader success.

The new policy will take effect beginning School Year 2025-2026 and is expected to streamline instruction across linguistic contexts, while still allowing flexibility in certain communities.