A Far Eastern University teacher made an exam for grade 10 students written in Baybayin, an indigenous writing style whose popularity among the youth spiked in recent years.
Filipino teacher Rikardo Juan lauded his students on Facebook for their perseverance for answering his exam he wrote in full Baybayin. He included an image of the exam in his post.
“Binabati ko kayong lahat dahil hindi niyo sinukuan ang exam ko na ito kahit na ang sabi ninyo’y hilong hilo na kayo,” Juan said.
Shoutout po sa mga Grade 10 students ko! Binabati ko kayong lahat dahil hindi niyo sinukuan ang exam ko na ito kahit na…
Posted by Rikardo Juan on Friday, November 23, 2018
The students got high scores, the teacher said in the comments section.
It gathered many praises online mostly for the effort of producing such written test and including Baybayin in his lesson plan.
This development came following the decision of the Commission on Higher Education and the Supreme Court to drop Filipino and Filipino literature from the core subjects in college institutions.
At the same time, the Department of Education also implements all public schools to have Korean, Spanish and other foreign language classes as part of its Special Program in Foreign Language.
Learning ancient scripts
The recent fame of the study of pre-Hispanic script resulted into tattoos, T-shirt designs and a keyboard app bearing its characters.
There are also seminars and websites that help Filipinos learn Baybayin on their own.
Last April, Rep. Leopoldo Bataoil (Pangasinan) authored a bill that sought integrate Baybayin into the national writing system for a better appreciation of the ancient alphabet and the Filipino culture.
But the move earned criticisms given the many complications it presents to the public, including additional costs to translate official communications to Baybayin.
Baybayin is also just one of the many indigenous writing styles found in the country. Others include the Haninu’o in Mindoro and Tagbanwa in Northern Palawan.
