By Catherine Teves | Philippine News Agency
MANILA — The Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino (KWF) is advocating the use of Filipino, the country’s national language, as medium of instruction in the tertiary level.
Using Filipino to teach tertiary-level subjects is in line with the 1987 Constitution which mandates this language’s development as the official communication mode of government and education, a KWF official said.
“The most effective way of fulfilling the constitutional tasks is by using Filipino extensively as the language of instruction in the tertiary level and as the medium of communication in other fields of knowledge and discipline,” said KWF Director General Anna Katarina Rodriguez in a press conference Monday, citing the agency’s reaction to a recent Supreme Court ruling which upholds the Commission on Higher Education’s Memorandum 20 series of 2013 that excluded the teaching of Filipino, Panitikan, and the Philippine Constitution subjects in the General Education Curriculum.
While the Filipino subject would no longer be required in the tertiary level, universities had the academic freedom to teach them.
KWF urges that the new GEC courses “be taught in Filipino and English but with preference for Filipino,” Rodriguez said.
She said KWF is also calling on colleges and universities nationwide to use Filipino as medium of instruction in all disciplines.
She said such institutions must also offer more and new courses on Filipino. Schools can avail of KWF’s free GEC retooling assistance wherein teachers can learn how to use Filipino in teaching GEC courses, she noted.
She said books that can be used are “Babasahin sa Kultural na Malayuning Komunikasyon”, “Ang Imahen ng Filipino sa Sining”, and “Pag-unawa sa Sarili”.
