Coping With Mtb-Mle Challenges: Perspectives of Primary Grade Teachers in a Central School

Abstract

A couple of years after the full-swing implementation of the Mother Tongue Based Multilingual Education (MTBMLE) in the Philippines, the program status continues to be confronted with many challenges in various provinces. It is in this context that this study endeavored to explore the status of the program, the challenges confronting the program implementers and as well as the strategies employed by the implementers to address these challenges. Using qualitative and qualitative research design, the study evaluated the status and challenges in the implementation of Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education in Tagbina Central Elementary School, Tagbina, Surigao del Sur. Issues found include the inadequate representation of the cultural heritage the children in their first language, insufficient and inadequate instructional materials and equipment, and the lack of teachers training for appropriate MTB-MLE teaching techniques and learning styles. In order to address these problems, teachers employ various coping strategies including self-training and study, asking help from a more knowledgeable faculty and shouldering the expenses of instructional material reproduction. These imply that the program implementation of MTBMLE needs looking into considering the serious problems confronting it. Concerned people should be informed and these people need to work collectively in formulating and designing appropriate intervention and sustainability plans for the program to thrive and subsequently attain its ultimate purpose of providing quality MTBMLE among primary graders.