Medium of instruction in Philippine public schools is a fundamental issue that needs to be settled @paulfarol

Medium of instruction -- the debate on the continued use of the Tagalog dialect in Philippine public schools -- underlies optimal use of whatever assets are deployed to support effective education of Filipinos.

In his tweet, blogger Paul Farol begs to differ slightly...

@benign0 Arguing over medium of instruction is putting the cart before the horse in a situation where the cart is broken and the horse is all but dead. The child of an average Filipino cellphone subscriber goes to a public school which not only lacks classrooms, but also has only 1 comfort room which they must share with at least 200 other students -- that comfort room has one toilet bowl and one wash basin, indoor plumbing is optional. They learn lessons from a teacher in a class of as many as 100 students and they must try to learn their lessons in a room that is either too hot or damp from floods or leaking roofs. They must try to learn from books that are either outdated, misprinted, or printed with factual errors. They are taught about computers using a well-worn CHART with a picture of a computer. They are taught chemistry and other sciences in the same way.

The child of an average Filipino cellphone subscriber is malnourished and is ridden with diseases as well as dental carries.

Indeed these are all serious problems. But the bottom line is that every new classroom and every new textbook we deploy into the public education system are assets we need to sweat.

Between the Tagalog dialect and the English language, which one returns more for every peso invested in classroom time used in its instruction?

The active ingredient in this critical decision can be encapsulated in the simple fact of the lack of a Tagalog word for the a simple concept with far-reaching implications on our ability to progress -- efficiency...

There's lots of Tagalog words for rice: 'bigas', 'kanin', 'sinaing', 'palay', etc. That's because rice is an important aspect of Filipino culture and society. The number of words in Tagalog devoted to articulating specific aspects, forms, and natures of rice reflects the importance and significance Filipinos place on it.

So what then would one conclude about the glaring absence of a Tagalog word for 'efficiency'? I think the implications of this fact are quite evident. One just needs to experience the Philippines to validate that implication.

So let us ask ourselves:

Why invest in a medium of instruction that fails at epic scales in the simple task of articulating a concept so crucial to economic and industrial achievement?