For speaking Ilokano, 3 students asked to leave Christian school

UPDATED 8AUG2013, 3:30PM The mother tongue is being spoken much more in schools around the country, but Saviour’s Christian Academy in Laoag, Ilocos Norte doesn't want to hear it as it has asked three students to leave the school for breaking an English-only policy.

The DepEd is in its second year of implementation of the Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education (MTBMLE), in which the mother tongue is used as the medium of instruction from kindergarten to Grade 3 in both public and private schools.

But at the SCA, speaking the vernacular at the campus is listed under "miscellaneous misconduct for reprimand," despite the SCA's being under the supervision of the Department of Education.

And the rule is treated with gravity as Reverend Brian Shah, president of SCA, told three Grade 8 students to transfer to another school last July 31, after they broke the school's strict English-only policy, Ilocano blogger Herdy Yumul wrote on August 6.

The experience was traumatic for the students, identified as Kleinee Bautista and Carl Abadilla, Yumul wrote. A third student was identified only as Samboy.

English-only policies

It is not uncommon for schools in the Philippines to implement English-only policies, although the scope varies. Sometimes, the policy only applies during certain subjects, such as Reading or Language. Some schools will even fine students for every Tagalog word spoken.

Before MTBMLE, English was prioritized several times in the history of language policy in the Philippines. In 2003, former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo issued Executive Order No. 210 "Establishing the Policy to Strengthen English as a Second Language in the Educational System," under which English was the medium of instruction for English, Math and Science from at least Grade 3.,

Under the Bilingual Education Policy, first implemented in 1974, both Filipino and English were taught and used as the medium of instruction in specific subject areas.

According to a timeline by former Undersecretary of Education Isagani Cruz, English was the sole language of instruction as ordered by the Department of Education in 1946. This was also the case in 1902 as ordered by the United States.

"The identification of a national language in the latter part of American colonial rule did not affect the elevated status of English in the Philippine society," Isabel Pefianco Martin, associate professor at the Ateneo de Manila Department of English and former president of the Linguistic Society of the Philippines, wrote in 2012.

This can be seen in the practice of implementing English-only policies in schools, although such policies are not always effective. Martin quotes Dionisia B. Fernandez, whose Speak English Only campaign failed because most of her pupils chose not to speak at all.

Penalized for speaking native languages

In 2011, Kabataan Rep. Raymond Palatino filed House Resolution 1567, which called for an investigation into schools that penalized students for speaking in Filipino and other native languages.

"Penalizing students for speaking their native language in schools is a crime to our culture and it should be stopped," Palatino said.

"It is common in most schools to encourage students to use the English language whenever on campus. This is part of their training and discipline, which is acceptable and reasonable," countered Atty. Joseph Estrada, legal counsel of the Coordinating Council of Private Educational Associations, which SCA is not a member of.

However, Estrada said sanctions should be equal to the school offense committed.

According to the SCA student's handbook, photos of which Yumul posted in his blog, the president is the final authority when it comes to discipline, "all cases involving discipline of students under the rules of conduct shall be under the jurisdiction of the Disciplinary Board."

The board is composed of the principal, any subject teacher of the high school department, the student counselor of the school, and the adviser of the erring student.

Based on Yumul's account, the students were expelled without due process. Worse, the incident occurred just before Buwan ng Wika, which is supposed to be a month-long celebration of native language.

Many Filipinos were upset over the issue, including Yumul, who teaches Philosophy and Sociology at the Mariano Marcos State University.

"Though supposedly a modern-day Christian, Shah puts to shame the decrepit men-of-the-cloth in the middle ages. And this reflects in the way he manages the school," wrote Yumul, who stressed that fear and punishment are ineffective ways of teaching students English.

"You want students to be good in English? You show them how that language can be useful to them. You let them realize how it can help make them better persons. You inspire them to be as good as you are, or even better, in its use. That is a real educator’s way. That, I say, is a real Christian’s way, that of love and compassion," he wrote.

'Bullied'

SCA seems to be stonewalling the issue. High School officer-in-charge Michael Lomabao did not confirm nor deny Yumul's report, but told GMA News Online that only SCA's legal adviser Atty. Jaime Agtang was authorized to speak on the matter. However, the academy would not give any contact details for Agtang.

GMA News Online was able to contact Bautista and his mother, Evelyn, however they, too, declined to comment on the matter.

The school was a second home for Bautista, who had studied there since prep, according to Yumul. Meanwhile, Abadilla was a new student who was bullied at his former school.

"'Little did we know that our child will be bullied by the school president himself,'” Yumul quoted Abadilla’s mother from an interview with The Ilocos Times.

According to Estrada, school policies differ from school to school, but every school policy should be reasonable.

In SCA's case, there is the question of whether speaking in the vernacular warranted the punishment of expulsion.

"After some students reported hearing the three speaking in Ilokano, and Shah immediately dismissed them in the absence of a thorough investigation and trial and without conferring with the parents. Whether the supposed offense is commensurate to the punishment—that of being dismissed during the school year—is, to say the least, questionable to many," Yumul wrote.

Policies must not be too harsh, Estrada said, adding that students are guaranteed the right to administrative due process in disciplinary procedures.

"A school policy that mandates the use of English language should not be absolute, such that the use of the dialect becomes the basis for exclusion of the student from the school," he said.

DepEd's move