On Thursday, June 25, I attended a forum of the MLE Consortium. The
speaker was Terry Durnnian of the Save the Children Sweden Southeast
Asia Regional Office.
Save the Children is devoted to promoting the use of the Mother Tongue
as the language of instruction and learning of children. In his presentation
the dismal situation in many countries of Asia which adhere to the one country,
one people, one language ideology (which I term Jacobinist). In many countries
it is impossible to use the Mother Tongue formally in school unless it is the
national language. What they are doing is to use MLE as an extracurricular activity.
In material made available in a World bank book by Filipino educators, these educators
trade pride in the use kuno of the "auxiliary language".
According to the presentor, these Asian countries are in violation of Sections 29 and
30 of the UN convention on the Rights of the Child. (Incidentally, the Philippines has
ratified this Convention.)
Specifically, Sections 29 and 30 of the Convention provide:
"Article 29
1. States Parties agree that the education of the child shall be directed to:
their fullest potential;
principles enshrined
in the Charter of the United Nations;
language and values,
for the national values of the country in which the child is living; the country from which he
or she may originate,
and for civilizations different from his or her own;
understanding, peace, tolerance,
equality of sexes, and friendship among all peoples, ethnic, national and religious
groups and persons of indigenous origin;
the liberty of individuals and bodies
to establish and direct educational institutions, subject always to the observance of the
principles set forth in Paragraph 1
of the present article and to the requirements that the education given in such institutions
shall conform to such minimum
standards as may be laid down by the State.
Article 30
In those States in which ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities or persons of indigenous
origin exist, a child belonging to such
a minority or who is indigenous shall not be denied the right, in community with other members
of his or her group, to enjoy his
or her own culture, to profess and practise his or her own religion, or to use his or her own
language."
As can be seen, the Convention, which the Philippines has ratified, the child has the
right to use his own language. And the cultural identity and language of the child is
to be developed. This means the child has the right to be taught in his Mother Tongue in
school. The MotherTongue is what the child uses at home. It is not synonymous with national
language.
The Philippines is falling short of the requirements of the Convention. Mr. Durnnian,
who is Canadian, also says that fining children for speaking their language in school
is barbaric. He added that in the past, Canadian religious groups used to gather
Native (i.e. Indian and Inuit) children in dormitories in schools and forbade them to use
their native languages and native religions. He said this was barbaric.
In this connection i made a power point presentation on multiculturalism and linguistic diversity
at an MLE forum in Zamboanga City last June 6. The forum and my presentation were very well
received.
--
Atty. Manuel Lino G. Faelnar
Co-Convenor for Language and Culture,
Subsidiarity Movement International
Vice President
DILA Phils. Foundation, Inc.
(Defenders of the Indigenous Languages of the
Archipelago)
Director
Lubas sa Dagang Bisaya, Inc. (LUDABI)
Member
Linguistic Society of the Philippines
"Without our language, we have no culture, we have no identity, we are nothing."
Ornolfor Thorsson, adviser to President of Iceland.
"When you lose a language you lose a culture, intellectual wealth, a work of art."
Kenneth Hale, who taught linguistics at MIT.
"Words, if powerful enough, can transport people into a journey,
real or imagined, that either creates
a fantasy or confirms reality."
Rachelle Arlin Credo, poet and
writer.
.
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