By: Ethaña Ramones, Hannah Heramia
FOR THE COURSE. CLAS Faculty with Mr. David San Juan of Tanggol Wika after the student consultation. Photo from Rafenzel Lacsina-Lomtong.
Along with Filipino subject professors, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences held a student consultation on the removal of Filipino courses in post K-12 curricula, last January 23 at St. Thomas Hall.
On November 9, 2018, the court lifted the temporary restraining order on the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) memorandum order that removed 15 units of Filipino subjects, from the mandatory subjects in college.
The CLAS department invited Mr. David Michael San Juan, an Associate Professor of Philippine Studies at De La Salle University, one of the founders of the language advocacy group Alyansa ng Mga Tagapagtanggol ng Wikang Filipino (Tanggol Wika), and a Public Information Officer at Alliance of Concerned Teachers-Private Schools (ACT Private) who talks about the importance of having Filipino courses in the collegiate level.
He reiterated the key arguments and documents of the paper, “Tanggol Wika: Internal na Kwento, mga Susing enough to vie for each post. “The students should be committed enough to perform well in class, and at the same time, lead the student body for what could be, a more challenging year,” Bisco declared.
Argumento at Dokumento,” which urges the public to stop the implementation of a government order to abolish Filipino language subject
in Philippine colleges and universities.
In line with the changes in the new curriculum, Asst. Prof. Darwin Rungduin declared, “We would like to believe that Filipino courses are supposed to still be offered in the tertiary level and we agree to the Supreme Court that there must be no redundancy of courses being offered from the Basic Education to Senior High School going to College.
“The challenge in which we accept is how we will be able to calibrate the Filipino courses, that it would fall into the competencies of a college graduate,” he added.
The CLAS Dean noted that it was the Rector’s instruction to do a consultation with the students to know their sentiments. “The academic consultation also shed light on what should be the courses to be offered, but still the decision is with the Academic Council,” he stressed.
Students were asked on what are their insights to the student consultation; “Magandang bagay ang isinagawa ng CLAS at faculty
dahil ginawa nila ang Student Consultation, nang sa ganitong paraan ay nalaman nila kung pabor o hindi pabor ang mga estudyante sa asignaturang Filipino,” said Isabela Bunag, a freshman Tourism Management student.
“The student consultation has a great purpose. Dean Darwin Rungduin of College of Liberal Arts and Sciences let the students from different programs [to] speak their minds regarding the issue of removing Filipino courses in colleges and universities,” added Alessandra Laurio, a first year Political Science major.
“I am a supporter of Tanggol Wika and I am grateful that Letran held this event in order to hear the voices of the students,” she added.
“Sa event, masasabi ko na nakatulong ‘yun para maging aware ‘yung mga Letranista sa nakaambang pagtanggal ng Filipino sa curriculum. At saka nabigyan ‘yung mga participants ng chance na sabihin ‘yung reaksyon nila about dun, at ‘di lang hinayaan na Letran administration lang ang gumawa ng desisyon ukol ‘dun,” said Gabrielle Sayago, an Information Technology freshman.
When asked if the student consultation was a success, Rungduin posited: “Walang gaanong naging diskurso, yung pagpapalit- palit ng kuro-kuro, idea, suhestiyon, tanong, iyon yung mahalaga sana, that could have added sa report, but then again that’s the reason why we’ve thought of doing a survey after.”
“It appeared that the students really see the Filipino courses an important one,” he ended.
Furthermore, Rungduin asserted that having Filipino subjects in the collegiate level would improve mastery of the language and would defend it as a medium of instruction.
(First published on The LANCE's Jan-Feb 2019 Issue)