MANILA — A significant shift in language policy for early education in the Philippines has occurred, as a new law discontinuing the use of the ‘mother tongue’ as a medium of instruction from kindergarten to Grade 3 officially came into effect. Known as Republic Act 12027, this law, which lapsed into law on October 10 without the signature of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., mandates that the medium of instruction will revert to Filipino and English, while regional languages may still be used as auxiliary media of instruction.
According to Philippines News Agency, the enactment of Republic Act 12027 marks a pivotal change in educational language policy, aiming to streamline and standardize instruction mediums across the country’s diverse linguistic landscape. The law specifies that mother tongue-based multilingual education (MTB-MLE) will only be applicable in monolingual classes under strict conditions set by the Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino (KWF), including the development of an official orthography, documented vocabulary, and sufficient educational resources like grammar books and literature.
The new legislation impacts classrooms where all students speak the same regional language and are in the same grade. To support this transition, the Department of Education, in coordination with the KWF, is tasked with developing a comprehensive language mapping policy within one year from the law’s effectivity. This framework aims to accurately identify and categorize students by their mother tongue, facilitating the targeted application of MTB-MLE in monolingual classes.