We congratulate all participants in the Joint International Decade of Indigenous Languages and International Mother Language Day (IMLD) Conference held at Caraga State University, Butuan City, Agusan del Norte this February 23-25, 2024. Talaytayan MLE, Tebtebba, Caraga State University Butuan, Agusan del Sur State College of Agriculture and Technology, and Philippine Normal University organized the conference. It is an annual event convened by advocates of the use of the first language of the child in education to update one another on the inroads and innovations in implementing the constitutionally sound policy derived from EDSA I, and swapping stories of overcoming obstacles mainly from the post-colonial westernized mindset that translates to lack of logistical support from the government, and the gains in learning outcomes attributable to this language in education policy.

The IMLD started in 2000 after it was approved by the UNESCO General Conference on the initiative of Bangladesh where language martyrs died in defending their right to learn in the Bangla language. They were killed by government forces of then Western Pakistan that draconically imposed the use of the Urdu language as medium of instruction to the Bangla speaking population.

Globally, 40 percent of the world population does not have access to education in a language they speak or understand. However, progress is being made in multilingual education with a growing understanding of its importance, especially in primary education, and greater commitment to its development in public life.

According to UNESCO, “Scientific studies are clear: learning in one’s own language is essential to success in school. It strengthens self-esteem, arouses curiosity from an early age, and facilitates intellectual development. Promoting multilingualism in schools also means maintaining and promoting linguistic plurality, especially regarding languages that have only a few remaining speakers.”

It is sad that in the Philippines, many of our countrymen still reject multi-lingualism despite the evidence of its effectiveness in education and in preserving the 170 Filipino languages that makes us what we are- one people, with different tongues. They haughtily look down on Filipino languages as signs of illiteracy, the jologs and the hoi polloi- the lowbred and unsophisticated masses. Some academics disdain the use of Filipino language in intellectual discourse for not being academic enough.

This asinine bunch boasts that we are the only nation in Asia who speak English well which gives the Philippines a comparative advantage. We do not see this advantage in the low scores of Filipino children who took PISA 2018 and 2022 in the English language, and in the lethargic foreign direct investments placed in the Philippines in contrast to non-English-speaking countries such as China and Vietnam. Many foreign students are here to learn English perhaps because they intend to work in the global stage, but we do not see moves to make English as language of instruction in their home countries.

Dean Antonio P Contreras (2014) said that, “one of the tragedies of a colonized society like ours is the absence of a solidly-founded national narrative that permeates our lives. This is aggravated by a lingering fetish at everything that is Western, leading one to prefer the language and lifestyle of the colonizers. Colonization is indeed a process of identity displacement, since it has effectively rendered our former selves as our new “other,” even as our colonial “other” becomes now part of our post-colonial selves. In this context, English is no longer seen as the language of the colonial “other.” In fact, to many, it is speaking Filipino that is now the unfamiliar “other.” Contreras pointed out that the ultimate curse of colonization that lives even up to now is having the language of the colonizer as a more acceptable unifier of our multiple selves, rather than the national language that is so resented for its being the language of the Tagalog.

This post-colonial westernized mindset that persists in Dep Ed and the halls of Congress, and even in Malacanang, is the worst enemy of multi-lingualism. I hope that our allies in education reforms will not falter in their resolve to overcome and finally vanquish this atrocious fetish for English that has devastated our education system and pulled us back from realizing our dream of eradicating poverty in a country filled with valuable natural resources.