Opening statement of Senator Pia S. Cayetano on the Senate education committee hearing on the status of DepEd’s Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education policy
My intervention today will simply be as the Chairman of the Committee on Sustainable Development Goals, Innovation, and Futures Thinking.
It is our job to prepare the children for the future. And we need to prepare them with 21st Century skills. These include communication, collaboration, being able to work in different environments, ability to adapt – and language is very central to this.
So when we talk today about the mother tongue, and how we are ensuring that our children understand what we’re teaching them, we also have to look into the future. What is the world that they need to be prepared for?
When I was a child, it was not common to be communicating with other countries. Walang Viber, walang Tiktok, walang Facebook, walang online job applications. You can’t just go online and see the job opportunities that are available. Literally, magpapadala ka ng Telegram.
So I was just in Bohol yesterday, and I was in Cebu three days ago, and [I saw that] there are many Filipinos in call centers. We [used to talk] about migrant workers, and now, many Filipinos don’t have to leave because they work in call centers. People don’t even have to go to the call center [because] they can work from home. And there are more and more jobs available.
Nasa-shock ako when I talk to young people. They are able to find these jobs all over the world, and they are living at home. They are with their loved ones, with their families. We’re creating jobs here at home. But their ability to do that is because of the English language.
I love the mother tongue. Kabalo ko mag-Bisaya, pwede rin ako mag-Ilonggo, and of course, I speak Filipino. So that’s the only thing I need to be part of this discussion. How do we ensure that we’re preparing our youth for the future?
The future is speaking the top languages of the world. It could be English, Spanish, or Mandarin. Those are the top three languages. But obviously, sa English tayo hiyang. So that’s the kind of discussion I’d also like to hear.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.#
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