Retain bilingual policy, nat'l teachers group asks solons

Gullas bill is unconstitutional, Congress told

By TONY PE. RIMANDO, Manila Bulletin

DAVAO CITY — The National Organization of Professional Teachers Inc. (NOPTI), the only association of public and private school mentors accredited by the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC), has cautioned the House of Representatives against adopting English as the principal medium of instruction in basic education as it batted for the retention of the bilingual policy of the Department of Education (DepEd), it was reported here.

NOPTI president Dr. Martha Alegre-Mogol told participants in the 2005 National Educators Congress held here recently that the organization’s warning came after House Bill No. 2894 was endorsed by the House committee on basic education.

Mogol said the bill, authored by Cebu Rep. Eduardo Gullas, sought to change the decades-long bilingual policy and require English as medium of teaching in the elementary and secondary schools.

Mogol also said the bilingual program — which calls for the use of English as medium of teaching in the subjects Science, Mathematics and English and use of Filipino in other subjects — is mandated by the Constitution.

"Unless Congress first amends this constitutional provision, it cannot pass another law which violates such provision," she said.

She also said that NOPTI, which has thousands of teachers-members nationwide, found out that the bilingual program has not only upgraded the academic advancement of school children but has also improved their fluency of the national language.

The NOPTI board members, who come from DepEd’s 17 regions, have disputed the claim of Congressman Gullas that the bilingual program has caused the English deficiency of many students, Mogol said.

She said NOPTI had noted that deficiency of students in English as well as in science and mathematics is largely traced to factors other than the bilingual policy

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