Philouise’s Weblog

Mother tongue for basic education

In my work among our people and the Lao, I recognize similar concerns like – medium of instruction in the basic education as a factor in comprehension and mastery. While the Cordillera region (CAR) does not anymore require a feeding program like Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR) both have experienced the use of mother tongue and borrowed language in basic education program. The Lao statistics show that majority drop out on the third grade while Cordillera statistics show majority dropout on the fourth grade. While the Lao school year starts in September, the Philippine school year starts on June.

As the Philippine school year commences, Antonio Tinio, chairperson of the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) raised the alarm saying that the Department of Education data shows 3.3 million out of school youth aged six to 15 years old. He said this is 78% higher than 2002 record of 1.46 M.

Bishop Alexander A. Wandag during the 7^th Igorot International Consultation (IIC7) emphasized “The promotion and development of our own languages and indigenizing our educational system in order to preserve our oral traditions and literature, culture, arts and world views!”

Dianne Dekker, of the Summer Institute of Linguistics, during IIC7 presented a paper on the use of the mother tongue as a medium of instruction during the primary grades. She presented the comprehension level of students on their years of experience among the Kalingas. She recommends the use of the mother tongue in basic education. This was collaborated by another study and experience of Dr. Gloria D. Baguingan in her paper “The First Language Component-Bridging Program printed by the Asian Reading Congress.

In the Lao PDR experience, historical records show that until the mid twentieth century, the Lao education was the Buddhist wat which uses the local dialect. Monks teach novice and young boys in Lao and Pali script, arithmetic, social subjects and religion. Many villages had wat schools while urban centers access to the school was limited to the ordained boys and men.

During the colonial period, the French patterned secular education system was established with French as the medium of instruction until the third grade.

It was until the 1950 that Lao language was used as a medium of instruction. It was in the 1960s that a Laotian curriculum took form and later took over the French educational system. By 1983-84. with the realization of a lack of teachers an intensive adult literacy program was implemented mobilizing educated adults to bring basic reading and writing to over 750,000 adults. According to the United Nations (UN), by 1985 those able to read and write were estimated at 92 percent of men and 76 percent of women of the fifteen to forty-five age group. Because few reading materials are available, especially in the rural areas, many newly literate adults lose much of their proficiency after a few years.

In 2002 to 2005 the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and the Lao PDR Ministry of Education implemented an education program to primary education in Oudomxay, Luang Namtha and Phongsaly province. The success of the project came up with a five-year extension agreement and to extend a feeding program until 2010.

According to a press release from the World Food Programme, the aim of the project is to improve access to primary school education, especially for girls. In 2003-2004, only 85 percent of boys and 79 percent of girls aged between 6 and 10 were enrolled in primary schools and only 56 percent of them successfully completed all five grades. Rural-urban discrepancies were high with, especially low enrolment and completion rates in the three most northern provinces. Since the start of the project, the WFP with its partners in the Ministry of Education has fed more than 57,000 schoolchildren each year.

WDP further stated that “With the extension of the project, we are aiming to reach 145,000 primary school children each year, including more than 70,000 girls. To achieve this, 29,000 metric tons of food will be distributed over the next five years at an estimated cost to WFP of US$23 million,”

Likewise, Lao PDR government statistics show that greatest dropouts happen after the third grade due to poverty and access. To address this Minsai Center-Japan and Education for Development Foundation and the Asiamerica Foundation/Darunee begun a special Lao fund. The Minsai Center Darunee Scholarship provides for three components: 90% scholarship to students for their supplies and other needs; 6% to school for instructional and sports materials; and 4% stipend to teachers to give special classes. By 1997, 70 scholarships were provided, with an additional 397 scholarships in 1998.

In Bishop Alex Wandag’s IIC7 keynote speech, he said “Educating our Cordillera minority children is a major concern of Cordillera Stakeholders. For many of these children, school is not a successful experience. 35% leave school not completing fourth grade. Confronted with this dismal reality, members of the Igorot Global Organization are challenged to do something different. As an organization, initiate change in teaching methods, adopt a new curriculum to fit the environs of our people, redirect the mode of instruction and help in outsourcing support for this new direction. For through this organization, we can be a voice who must seriously engage in today’s educational reform efforts. As I speak, there are four house bills sitting in Congress today, three house bills advocating an all English mode of instruction and one bill advocating an all Tagalog/Filipino mode of instruction. How can we be a voice to suggest an alternative whereby our language and culture is part of the curriculum?”

(I am participating in a study and would appreciate any feedback on the use of mother tongue as a medium of instruction in basic education. I will be back in Laos by August thus your feedback would help)

published in Cordillera Today