DepEd set to remove Mother Tongue as subject but will retain it as medium of instruction

The Department of Education (DepEd) is set to remove Mother Tongue as a subject for Grades 1 to 3 to decongest the existing curriculum, Education Undersecretary Epimaco Densing III said Monday.

"Meron po tayong subject from Grade 1 to 3 na Mother Tongue even though we already have English and Filipino subjects. [And so] we all agreed in the Curriculum and Instruction strand to do away with the 50 minutes of Mother Tongue as a subject," Densing told before the Senate basic education panel.

"We will decongest the 50 minutes of learning Mother Tongue as a subject. There is no need to put Mother Tongue as a subject for children because this is already their everyday language in school, in the community and within the family. This [time for Mother Tongue subject] will be reallocated to our national reading program and national math program," he added.

Densing said the decision was reached after months of consultation with various sectors and stakeholders in revising the curriculum for Kinder to Grade 10 which has been subjected to a review.

"Ipapasok itong [pagtanggal sa mother tongue as subject] sa revised K to 10 curriculum. Nasa gitna kami ng pagfa-finalize ng K to 10 curriculum, and we are informing you," he said.

(We will include this change in the revised K to 10 curriculum. We are in the middle of finalizing it, and we are informing you.)

Densing said that without the mother tongue as a subject, the curriculum will be anchored on the following subjects: English, Filipino, Math, Araling Panlipunan, Good Manners and Right Conduct, Physical Education, Music, and Arts.

"These subjects will be the foundation [of the curriculum]," he said.

Densing, however, stressed that the mother tongue of learners, which includes their dialect, will still be used as a medium of instruction as mandated under the K to 12 law. The said law added two more years to high school to allow learners to be ready for jobs prior to getting a college education.

"Based on what is mandated under K to 12 law, we will continue to use mother tongue as medium of instruction. Puwedeng ang pagtuturo ng Math ay sa Hiligaynon o sa Tagalog para mas maintindihan. Hindi lang siya isasabay as a subject," he said.

(Math can be taught in Hiligaynon or Tagalog to make it more comprehensible. It just won't be studied as a subject.)

The DepEd earlier said that the target of making K to 12 graduates employable has been unmet, prompting them to initiate a review of the junior and senior high curriculum starting in November.

It is also set to implement full scale face-to-face classes in November for the first time since COVID-19 pandemic hit the country in March 2020. —KG, GMA News