Revisiting the Bilingual

Education Policy: Why was it

Abandoned?
By Purificacion G. Delima, Phd
Rep. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo
proposed House Bill
No. 5091 “an act to strengthen
and enhance the use of English
as the Medium of Instruction (
MOI) in the Educational
System.
The 1974 Bilingual Education Policy
(BEP)
Department Order No.25, s 1974
“Implementing Guidelines for the
Policy on Bilingual Education”
The goal is to develop a bilingual
nation competent in the use of both
English and Pilipino.

b. The use of English and Pilipino as

medium of instruction shall begin in
Grade 1 in all schools.
c. English and Pilipino shall be taught as
language subjects in all grades in the
elementary and secondary schools to achieve
the goal of bilingualism

d. Pilipino shall be used as medium of

instruction in then subject areas: social studies,
social science, character education, work
education, health education and physical
education.

• The use of English in all other

subject/courses in elementary and
secondary levels shall be likewise
mandatory
• The attainment of the goal of the BEP was for 10 year period from 1974-1984.
The Bilingual Education Policy
Evaluation (BEPE)
How did the BEP Impact
on the Learning process of
Filipino students after
eleven years of
implementation?
• Working with the Linguistic Society of the Philippines (LSP), Bonifacio Sibayan

• Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports (MECS), Andrew Gonzalez

• They conducted the Evaluation using a multidimensional model of evaluation

consisting the “ achievement test data and perception data from key members of
various sectors of the Philippine national community ( Gonzalez 1990, in Bautista
1996,331).
Major Findings

• According to Gonzalez (Ibid) the same BEPE revealed “interesting and unexpected
findings”, to wit:

1. The BEP created a widening gap between tagalogs and non-tagalogs in education
system. “ the formula for success in the Philippine education is to be tagalog living in
Metro Manila, which is highly urbanized, and BEP ,5. studying in a private school
considered excellent.
2. Learning in Pilipino benefited from the teachers use and knowledge of, and training
in English, including other resources, which were in English used in the classroom;

3. Pilipino language skills transferred to English increasingly, and peaked in Grade 6,

i.e, a strong evidence of a genuine developing bilingualism.

4. Even non-tagalogs, e.g, Surigao-Cebuanos (surprisingly second ) and

Pangasinenses (Third), were cited as best achievers in Pilipino subject.
5. Good schools mostly in Metro Manila and urban areas performed excellent job in
teaching English and Pilipino.

6. Pilipino had been accepted as the symbol for unity and national identity, and as a
national language; however, English was acknowledged to be necessary for economic
reasons alongside Pilipino both as instructional media.

7. The BEP implementation required as concerted effort of various groups from the
government and non-government organizations, including professional testing and
certifying agencies and likewise language organizations.
8. Parents put high hopes on the positive impact of the bilingual policy, even as while
all other groups, governmental and non-governmental alike, saw the “deterioration in
English competence”.

9.The Filipino community attributed the achievement gap in English Pilipino no more to
post-war conditions of schools and the educational system, in general and not to the
implemented language policy.
10. Pilipino was foreseen to be the scholarly discourse in the near future, except not
exclusively in legal domain;

11. Success and failure in the learning in the Philippines were seen as dependent on
socio- economic status and competence of schools and their faculty, more than
nationalism and country aspirations of the citizens; and,
12. The development and intellectualization of Pilipino as the language of scholarly
discourse would more appropriately happen, not at the bottom of the educational
ladder, but at the tertiary level, “ where a creative minority of scholars who are both
linguistically versatile and knowledge in their fields” can pioneer works in the
translation and research in Pilipino.