By ALEJANDRA M. PALAGANAS
Dagupan City

SEVERAL years ago, in an effort to develop a national language, Public Schools stopped using English as a medium of instruction. The result has been disastrous both for English proficiency and the promotion of national language. In many non-Tagalog speaking regions, local dialects are being used as a medium of instruction rather than Filipino, the national language that is largely based on Tagalog.

Compounding the problem is the widespread use of ‘Taglish’ broadcasting and entertainment. The result is a population with no proficiency in either English or Fiipino. The result is a slide in the nation’s global competitiveness. The development cannot come at a worse time, when English has become the LINGUA FRANCA of international business and the information age.

It is very sad to note that foreign and domestic investors have been complaining about it and recently, local business men, politicians, policy makers, academicians, teachers and students unanimously agreed with the observation that Filipinos are totally losing their proficiency in English. even the Department of Labor and Employment suggested that English be restored as the medium of instruction in the country’s schools, pointing out that Filipinos are losing job opportunities because of deteriorating English proficiency among their graduates.

Good and understandable English should start at grade one. This is to enable the person to exercise not only his mind but more importantly his or her tongue to make him “saleable” in the market, whether foreign or domestic.

Poor English proficiency of teachers and pupils can be embarrassing as when BAD ENGLISH helped lead cyber sleuths to Filipino hacker Onel de Guzman, who unleashed the “I LOVE YOU” virus that affected computers around the world including those in U.S. security agencies.

The consequences of poor English proficiency include loss of job opportunities. Labor officials point out that the country can corner a big chunk of the call center market if Filipinos have a better grasp of English. admittedly, foreign investors are attracted to invest their money in countries whose people are rapidly improving their English proficiency and adopting the international tongue.

Good English should be practiced in the elementary level and developed efficiently while the pupil steps higher in the ladder of education. Finding solutions is not yet late. We still have all the time.

However, even if English is restored as a medium of instruction, alongside Filipino, a major problem is the lack of teachers qualified and competent to teach English. How expect a pupil to speak English and understandable English when his teacher could not even compose a simple grammatically correct English. Compounding the problem is that a number of those competent English teachers have left for jobs overseas. To address this problem, the country will have to develop and continuously trained a new pool of English Teachers.

Reversing the decline in English proficiency is going to take time and a lot of effort but the country has no choice if we fail to act soon, we may never catch up with the rest of the world. We maybe come the laughing stock of Asia.

This has nothing to do with colonial mentality or lack of nationalism. This is for our common good. This is all about national survival in a highly competitive global environment.