JESLI A. Lapus has done many good things as Secretary of Education, but I think its Department of Education (DepEd) Order 74, which he issued on July 14, 2009, that will secure his place in history.

This Order, entitled "Institutionalizing Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education," requires schools to lift the ban on regional languages as medium of instruction. It goes a step farther by requiring schools to use regional languages, not Filipino and English, as the primary medium of instruction.

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Since Marcos imposed bilingual education in the 1970s, only Filipino and English were allowed in the classroom. His argument was that Filipino, as national language, would help unify the nation, and English, as international language, would prepare graduates for the world job market.

Marcos meant well, I'm sure, but schoolchildren grew up thinking that Filipino and English were the only two languages they'd ever need to succeed in life, and that Kapampangan was an inferior language, to be spoken only at home and in the streets, unfit for academic and corporate environment, and an obstacle to learning the more important, more useful Filipino and English.

Some schools even penalized students caught speaking Kapampangan, like it was a crime to speak the language they were born with. They were made to unlearn their first language to make way for two new languages.

With DepEd Order 74, Secretary Lapus (who is a Kapampangan from Concepcion, Tarlac-his middle initial stands for Aquino) has finally affirmed the yearning of advocacy groups and cultural workers who have toiled endlessly for the equality of languages, and who have always resisted government efforts to privilege one language at the expense of all other regional languages.

But Secretary Lapus did not replace bilingual with multilingual education to satisfy cultural advocates. He did it to improve the educational system.

Our old folks have always been telling us that they had better teachers and better schools during their time (true), and that as a result, they were better educated and spoke better English (also true). They believed, quite correctly, that Kapampangan and English were the only languages they'd ever need to make it through life (the former to communicate with one another and the latter to communicate with all others). English would have served as national language as well. It was when Filipino was mixed in that we started losing our grip on both Kapampangan and English.

According to the Order, "a preponderance of local and international research" has finally convinced the Department of Education to switch to multilingual instruction. Kapampangan schoolchildren, when taught in Kapampangan, would learn to read and write more quickly, would perform better in all other subjects, and, most amazing of all, would have better English and better Filipino!

The Order cited a study the Department recently made that validated "the fundamental observation that top performing countries in the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMMS) are those countries that teach and test students in science and math in their own languages."

It's easy to see why: Small schoolchildren, who have spoken nothing but Kapampangan at home, are made to study two new languages while simultaneously learning other subjects. They have to learn those subjects in the same two new languages that they are also just trying to learn. Can you imagine, for example, enrolling in French and Nippongo classes at the same time, in addition to enrolling in Calculus, Accounting, Principles of Marketing and African Literature, and then discovering that these subjects are also going to be taught in French and Nippongo!

Under the Order, Kapampangan should be used "in the whole stretch of formal education." It should be "the primary medium of instruction from pre-school until, at least, Grade Three." In these initial grade levels, even English and Filipino should be taught in Kapampangan.

In Grade One, the Order says, Kapampangan "will be introduced both as a subject and as a language of teaching," i.e., aside from using it as medium of instruction for all subjects, there should be a separate subject about Kapampangan itself.

In Grade Two, "additional languages such as Filipino and English shall be introduced as separate subjects," but Kapampangan shall still be the medium of instruction for these two subjects.

It will only be starting Grade Three, "or when the pupils are ready," that English and Filipino may be used as medium of instruction, but only "gradually." From then on until Grade Six, Kapampangan shall still be used "to scaffold (support) learning."

In High School, English and Filipino shall be retained as the primary medium of instruction; however, Kapampangan "shall still be utilized as an auxiliary medium of instruction."

The order also makes it clear that even test questionnaires shall be in the language appropriate for the grade level.

Good luck to our education officials, school heads, principals and teachers who have to spend the next few months creating Kapampangan instructional materials, translating textbooks, revising curriculum and syllabi, and above all, retraining themselves. They will also need to sit down and resolve issues like how to apply multilingual education in highly heterogenous classes (where there are as many Cebuanos, Ilonggos, Ilocanos, Bicolanos, etc. as Kapampangans in the same classroom).

They must also agree on a common orthography. Even DepEd Order 74 recognizes the need for "a working orthography acceptable to the majority of stakeholders and promoting the intellectualization of the local language."

The Center for Kapampangan Studies can help by holding a summit to resolve the orthography issue and by publishing another Kapampangan dictionary and additional Kapampangan reading materials. Translating textbooks may not yet be necessary now, but by next school year, there should already be basic Kapampangan workbooks for pre-school which, I understand, is where the Order will be implemented first.

But other institutions and organizations must do the same so that the supply will be ready when the demand increases. Professional organizations (like those of engineers, doctors, accountants) must start translating their textbooks as part of the intellectualization of Kapampangan, i.e., Kapampangan not just limited to literature, history and culture but permeating all areas of scholarship.

We should not let this golden opportunity to do something big for future generations slip off our hands. Our concern for our children's future and our common love for our Amanung Sisuan should help us get the work done.