DepEd promoting English as medium of instruction

Even as it cited the need to hire teachers who are more proficient in English, the Department of Education (DepEd) said yesterday it has been pursuing a policy of promoting English as the principal medium of instruction in public schools since last year.

DepEd Undersecretary Jose Luis Gascon said education officials have worked toward this goal since President Arroyo issued a policy statement in January last year "laying down English as the principal medium of instruction."

Gascon said while English has "never been dropped" as a medium of instruction, he admitted that the need to improve public school students’ proficiency in the language surfaced after tests administered to all public school teachers early last year found that many of them need further training to improve their proficiency in the language.

Under the DepEd’s adopted policy, students must be exposed to the English language at least 70 percent of the time they are in school.

"We’ve been conducting training programs for teachers to teach English and math and science in English," Gascon said. The remaining two core subjects, Filipino and Makabayan, are taught using Filipino as the medium of instruction.

The DepEd has also adopted another approach: students from Grades 1 to 3 will be taught English using either Filipino or their own dialect or language. Beyond the third grade, students will be taught English, math and science with English as the medium of instruction.

Gascon said it has been difficult to promote the use of English as the principal medium of instruction in public schools because of the lack of resources. He pointed out that teacher training for English instruction is expensive.

He added that the public schools’ poor proficiency in English has also made the DepEd realize the need to hire more teachers with "above average" English proficiency.