Department of Education (DepEd) Undersecretary Epimaco Densing III stated that he had suggested to Vice President and DepEd Secretary Sara Duterte the use of English and Filipino as a medium of instruction in schools.

“I would want to say that we use the regular English and Filipino as medium of instruction and the mother tongue as an exception to the rule,” Densing said.

The K to 12 law requires the mother tongue to be used from Kindergarten to Grade 3.

“But being practical about it, if this has been effective, then why have we failed in [Programme for International Student Assessment] evaluation?” the DepEd official said.

Densing said that he made the suggestion to Education Secretary Sara Duterte-Carpio.

“I have discussed this a few times to Vice President Sara, although this is not yet official because this has not come out, but this is more of a personal comment of mine that again I opened up for discussion with VP Sara,” he said.

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