Ched Rick Gatchalian

Students walk toward their respective classrooms as the school year 2023-2024 opens at the Corazon Aquino Elementary School in Quezon City on Aug. 29, 2023. Maria Tan, ABS-CBN News

Students walk toward their respective classrooms as school year 2023-2024 opens at the Corazon Aquino Elementary School in Quezon City on Tuesday, August 29, 2023. Around 22 million students are enrolled this year in both public and private schools, as well as state universities in the country according to the Department of Education. 

Maria Tan, ABS-CBN News

Article (news)

DepEd releases guidelines mandating Filipino, English as new MOI starting School Year 2025-2026

ABS-CBN News

<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:960px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/175168477679520230829-class-opening-corazon-aquino-mt10.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="Students walk toward their respective classrooms as school year 2023-2024 opens at the Corazon Aquino Elementary School in Quezon City on Tuesday, August 29, 2023. Around 22 million students are enrolled this year in both public and private schools, as well as state universities in the country according to the Department of Education. Maria Tan, ABS-CBN News"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">Students walk toward their respective classrooms as school year 2023-2024 opens at the Corazon Aquino Elementary School in Quezon City on Tuesday, August 29, 2023. Around 22 million students are enrolled this year in both public and private schools, as well as state universities in the country according to the Department of Education. <em>Maria Tan, ABS-CBN News</em></span></span></span></div><p>MANILA — Classes in Kindergarten to Grade 3 will be taught primarily in Filipino and English starting School Year 2025-2026, the Department of Education said.</p><p>Teachers may also use Filipino Sign Language in classes for deaf and hard-of-hearing learners.</p><p><a href="https://www.deped.gov.ph/wp-content/uploads/DO_s2025_020r_8.pdf">DepEd Order No. 020,s. 2025 </a>dated July 3, 2025 &quot;operationalizes&quot; the provisions of Republic Act No. 12027 or An Act Discontinuing the Use of Mother Tongue as Medium of Instruction (MOI) from Kindergarten to Grade 3.</p><p>It said regional languages will serve as &quot;auxiliary&quot; media of instruction, as teachers can switch to their use to help learners understand and adjust better.</p><p>Citing Section 2 of Republic Act No. 12027, which discontinued the use of the mother tongue as medium of instruction, DepEd said schools and community learning centers holding monolingual classes &quot;can continue using the learner&#x27;s language...including schools and CLCs implementing the Indigenous Peoples Education Program.&quot; </p><p>The mother tongues should have official orthography developed and published by the Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino and a documented vocabulary. Holding classes in the mother tongue will also depend on the availability of teachers trained to do so.</p><p>DepEd said in while the Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE) helped address language barriers experienced by learners who do not have Filipino or English as their first language, the program also had &quot;limitations&quot;.</p><p>Among those are difficulties in uniform implementation, lack of teacher preparation and a shortage of developmentally appropriate and localized reading materials in the first language.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/10/17/22/deped-to-remove-mother-tongue-as-subject">DepEd: Mother tongue to be removed as subject, retained as medium of instruction</a></div><p>It said RA 12027 was enacted to &quot;bridge the gaps in the implementation and use of the Mother Tongue as medium of instruction from Kindergarten to Grade 3.</p><p>The DepEd Order No. 20 covers all elementary schools in the Philippines.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>&#x27;ABANDONMENT&#x27; OF MOTHER TONGUE</strong></div><p>Teachers&#x27; groups had opposed what they called a move that &quot;abandons&quot; mother tongue as language of instruction. </p><p>They said MTB-MLE should be improved instead of being scrapped entirely.</p><p>The Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) warned that RA 12027 further &quot;detracts from resolving the education crisis and correcting curriculum flaws.&quot;</p><p>ACT Chairperson Vladimer Quetua said that the new rule counters the objective of developing foundational literacy skills in the primary grades, which he said is easier with the use of mother tongue. </p><p>The Teachers’ Dignity Coalition (TDC) meanwhile argued that addressing deficiencies in MTB-MLE program is the &quot;real challenge&quot;, and outright discontinuation of it was unnecessary.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2025/5/26/deped-gears-up-for-sy-2025-2026-with-curriculum-updates-new-hires-and-nationwide-programs-2150">DepEd gears up for SY 2025–2026 with curriculum updates, new hires, nationwide programs</a></div>

<p>In its order, the Department of Education said regional languages will serve as "auxiliary" media of instruction and teachers can switch to their use to help learners understand and adjust better.</p>

In its order, the Department of Education said regional languages will serve as "auxiliary" media of instruction and teachers can switch to their use to help learners understand and adjust better.

DepEd: Classes in Kinder to Grade 3 will be taught in Filipino and English

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DepEd: Classes in Kinder to Grade 3 will be taught in Filipino and English

Ched Rick Gatchalian,

ABS-CBN News

Published Jul 05, 2025 11:39 AM PHT

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