Making English the medium of instruction doesn’t necessarily equate to quality education

A few days ago, the incumbent President of the Philippines Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. delivered his first State of the Nation Address. It was a lot to take in, with the president going through some of the most pressing problems the country is currently facing. As someone who’s been a victim of the faulty education system—and someone who aspires to be an educator in the near future—the administration’s plans for education were definitely something I had my focus on.

As expected, Marcos expressed his support for the mandatory Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) program for senior high school students in both public and private tertiary schools. I could go on a tirade about why this should be strongly reconsidered, but for now, you can check out why making it compulsory has consistently been opposed.

He also talked about the full resumption of in-person classes (amid a classroom shortage and rising COVID-19 cases), the provision of quality educational materials, and the reconsideration of the K-to-12 program.

Among other things, though, I’m particularly piqued by this statement: “Foreign employers have always favored Filipino employees because of our command of the English language. This is an advantage that we must continue to enjoy. […] The language of the internet—for better or for worse—is English. Therefore, the question of our medium of instruction must be continuously re-examined to maintain that advantage that we have established as English-speaking people.”

This quote alone carries a lot of complexities, but let’s focus on one thing: Is making English the primary medium of instruction in schools going to improve the quality of education?

A brief history of English as one of our main languages

Teachers were trained and required to teach in English while English-speaking students were given incentives in terms of career opportunities and government service.

If it isn’t obvious enough, the country’s multilingual nature is a product of our colonial past. While the Spaniards made sure the Spanish language remained exclusive to the elites who were willing to accept their colonial agendas, the Americans imposed a policy to use English as the primary medium of instruction during their colonization period.

Teachers were trained and required to teach in English while English-speaking students were given incentives in terms of career opportunities and government service. Since our local languages became mere “auxiliary languages” to teach character education at that time, the policy made Filipinos believe that English was the language of higher education, which according to Filipino historian Renato Constantino, caused an apparent divide between educated Filipinos and the masses.

Even our political independence didn’t free us fully from this colonial policy. Besides dominating the education sector, English continues to be widely used in almost every industry such as health care, commerce, and media (as the language in this whole piece shows).

The relevance (or lack thereof) of language to the economy

Despite the implementation of bilingual education policy (the use of English for science and mathematics and Filipino for all other courses) post-colonization, those who sat in power seemingly shaped the economy in a way that it was “largely dependent on remittances from overseas workers, many of whom work in English-speaking countries.” They pushed the education sector to produce graduates who were capable of filling labor positions globally—and that meant English literacy was necessary.

Even in the local scene, a huge population of Filipinos is being hired—specifically by business process outsourcing companies—mainly to serve foreign countries.

Learning English brings economic advantages, they said. But how come we remain a developing country despite knowing “more” languages than most first-world Asian countries? Japan, South Korea, and China are non-English-speaking countries, yet they’ve achieved significant progress in various sectors. 

Even in the local scene, a huge population of Filipinos is being hired—specifically by business process outsourcing companies—mainly to serve foreign countries.

Meanwhile, developed Asian countries have consistently supported their local industries. For instance, the Ministry of Economic Affairs of Taiwan continues to “actively foster” startups and assist small and medium-sized enterprises to “upgrade and transform.” The country had around 1.4 million SMEs in 2018, which comprised over 97% of its total enterprises. They are considered the foundation of Taiwan’s economic development, playing a significant role in creating employment opportunities.

While Filipinos continue to get employed for jobs that require English as a medium of communication (usually overseas), other nations are taking steps to improve their local industry and make use of their domestic supply chain—giving citizens livelihood opportunities that don’t need fluency in a foreign language.

Learning in English doesn’t mean we’re better than the others

While English is considered an objectively valuable language as it can be an efficient means of communication with the rest of the world, imposing it as the primary language of instruction does not necessarily lead to quality education.

Here in the Philippines, both mathematics and science courses are taught in English. And yet, we still have to “do better in the international rankings—especially when it comes to the so-called STEM subjects:  Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics,” said the president during his SONA. 

We ranked 76th in the 2018 Program for International Student Assessment or PISA (a global study of the scholastic performance of students in nearly 80 nations in mathematics, science, and reading) while non-English-speaking Asian countries (China, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan) that use their vernacular as medium of instruction topped the assessment.

It’s also worth noting how Vietnam—which was among the poorest participants—ranked 17th and 8th in the 2012 and 2015 PISA, respectively. This feat made the Southeast Asian country superior to developed nations like the United Kingdom and the USA. Plus, similar to most Asian countries that made it to the top 20, Vietnam uses its native language in school.

The push for mother tongue-based education

In 2016, the Department of Education mandated the use of the language students understand best as the medium of instruction to “allow them to grasp basic concepts more easily.” This was supported by the three-language teaching experiments wherein students who were taught using their mother tongue were found to excel more in reading, arithmetic, and social studies compared to those who received English instruction. 

So why exactly do we insist on using it as the language of instruction when mastering a foreign tongue becomes a barrier to learning a subject?

But it seems that this policy wasn’t properly implemented because in 2021, the World Bank claimed that the overall poor educational performance of the Philippines, especially in mathematics and science, is “deeply rooted in students’ limited proficiency” in the medium of instruction: English.

So why exactly do we insist on using it as the language of instruction when mastering a foreign tongue becomes a barrier to learning a subject?

Poet-writer Jerry Gracio also expressed his two cents on this issue in a tweet: “Bakit bano tayo sa science at math? Dahil itinuturo ang basic concepts sa isang foreign na lengguwahe.” (Why aren’t we excelling in science and math? It’s because the basic concepts are being taught in a foreign language.)

Gracio’s tweet gained mixed reactions. Some agree while others think translating math and science into our respective mother tongues will cause even more confusion among students. Among the replies was historian Xiao Chua: “Hindi naman [purong] Filipino ang kailangan. [May mga] termino sa math at science [na] hindi kailangang isalin, pero magandang ipaliwanag sa Filipino.” (We don’t have to translate everything into Filipino. There will be terms in math and science that need not translating, but might be better to explain in Filipino.)

The Philippines has recorded one of the lowest education budget allotments in the ASEAN region, only comprising 12.58% of the total 2022 national budget.

Besides, with a problem as large as providing quality education, language is far from the only barrier to students learning competently. Education remains a privilege, and this was highlighted during the pandemic when students had no access to online classes due to a lack of resources, from a reliable internet connection to electricity.

We’re currently experiencing a shortage in classrooms and other educational tools—and we can’t even provide school uniforms for free. Most importantly, teachers are overworked yet underpaid with bare minimum benefits.

Despite these, the Philippines has recorded one of the lowest education budget allotments in the ASEAN region, only comprising 12.58% of the total 2022 national budget.

Language is a complicated issue, resonating with national identity and social pride in some circles and provoking alarmist knee-jerk reactions in others.

Maybe it’s time to follow the likes of Vietnam, which allots approximately 20% of its national budget to education. The country also ensures its teachers are capable enough to properly carry out their duties. In fact, Vietnam has imposed teaching standards in terms of content knowledge, skills, and dispositions. Apart from this, Vietnam constantly studies other countries’ curriculum reforms and sees which parts of it can be incorporated into its own system.

Language is a complicated issue, resonating with national identity and social pride in some circles and provoking alarmist knee-jerk reactions in others. In the middle of it are millions of children who are basically mandated to learn English only to end up with jobs totally unrelated to their degrees, serving foreign countries instead of our own.

​​Instead of arguing over which language should be used as the primary medium of instruction, the goal should be for quality learning to happen first. More than filling jobs, it’s crucial to pay attention to students’ needs, like making sure education is accessible and that learning conditions are conducive to them. And that won’t happen if we continue to provide band-aid solutions to problems that need radical changes in the system. ​

Read more:

Why is ROTC not mandatory anymore? A look into the brutal history

Financial literacy in high school? Yes, please!

Why Kabataan Partylist’s Sarah Elago defends the #LeaveNoStudentBehind movement

Art by Yel Sayo