REPUBLIC Act (RA) 12027, or an act discontinuing the use of the mother tongue as medium of instruction from Kindergarten to Grade 3 and providing for its optional implementation in monolingual classes, has lapsed into law without President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s signature.
RA 12027 lapsed into law on October 10, based on the copy of the law released by the Presidential Communications Office on Saturday.
Under the new law, the medium of instruction shall revert to Filipino and English, while the mother tongue will serve as “auxiliary media of instruction.”
Monolingual classes may continue using the mother tongue as a medium of instruction as long as it complies with the following requirements: official orthography developed and published by the Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino (KWF), officially documented vocabulary published by the commission, literature on languages and culture, grammar book, and availability of teachers in the school who speak and are trained to teach in the mother tongue.
The mother tongue became the instruction medium from kindergarten to the first three years of elementary education under the Enhanced Basic Education Act of 2013.
Under the new law, a monolingual class refers to a group of learners who speak the same mother tongue and are enrolled in the same grade level in a given school year.
Meanwhile, the Department of Education (DepEd), in consultation with the KWF, has been tasked to develop a language mapping policy within one year from the effectivity of the act and implement a language mapping framework to properly identify and classify students based on their mother tongue to systematically determine the existence of monolingual classes per school year.
Further, the DepEd shall conduct a review of the optional implementation of the mother tongue-based multilingual education program in monolingual classes, including learner assessment, teacher recruitment and matching, development of learning resources published in the mother tongue, capacity-building efforts for teachers, and funding requirements for the program, three years after the effectivity of the law and every three years thereafter.
The report shall be submitted to the President, the Senate and the House of Representatives no later than June 30 following the year of review.
Also, the report shall include recommendations to address gaps in the law and/or the implementation of RA 12027.
Further, the report shall include recommendations on whether to continue or discontinue the optional use of the mother tongue as medium of instruction in monolingual classes based on the review conducted by the DepEd.
Within 90 days from the effectivity of the law, the DepEd, KWF and other education stakeholders shall issue its implementing rules and regulations (IRR).
The IRR shall take effect 30 days after its publication in a newspaper of general circulation.
The act will take effect on October 27, or 15 days following its publication in the Official Gazette or in a newspaper of general curriculum.
RA 12027 was signed by House Speaker Martin Romualdez and Senate President Francis Escudero.
Be the first to comment