as Education Ministry rolls out Spanish as compulsory subject in schools

WITH schools set to reopen soon, Guyana is considering sourcing Spanish teachers from Cuba and Mexico to begin the rollout of Spanish as a compulsory subject in primary and secondary schools across the country.

In an invited comment to reporters on the sidelines of an event on Thursday, Education Minister Priya Manickchand said that Guyana will be seeking assistance from bilateral partners to source teachers while the country trains theirs.

“We have a paucity or dearth of teachers in particular places, but we are also trying to work with some of our partners like Cuba and Mexico, and so on to see if we can get teachers down while we train ours,” Manickchand said.

She added: “[We’re] talking about every primary and secondary school doing Spanish [we’re] talking about far more institutions doing Spanish than we ever had before.”

Manickchand highlighted that about 80 per cent of the country’s secondary schools have Spanish teachers; however, many more human resources will be needed to ensure the comprehensive roll-out of this initiative.

The ministry will also consider the services of retired teachers to help deliver Spanish classes.

In the meantime, the ministry, she said, is exploring several options to train teachers. These include online courses or studies at the University of Guyana (UG) and the Cyril Potter College of Education (CPCE).

Additionally, the National Centre of Educational Resource Development (NCERD) is working to create Spanish materials that could be used in schools in the absence of a teacher.

Last month, President, Dr. Irfaan Ali announced that Spanish will become a mandatory subject in primary schools as part of the government’s commitment to enhance education at all levels across the country.

The President underscored that Spanish is integral and necessary for the development of skilled human resources.

“Being in a continent in South America…we are the only English-speaking country. We have to realise too that we are part of this continent that speaks Spanish, and I believe we are going to do the future young people of our country an injustice if we don’t point them in this direction. If you want to be competitive internationally, you have to have this second language, “he said.