The Ministry of Education in collaboration with Caricom last week held a teacher training workshop aimed at introducing Spanish to the primary school curriculum.

According to GINA, Chief Education Officer at the ministry Genevieve Whyte-Nedd said the objective of the programme is to sensitize participants to the importance of foreign language education; the need for its inclusion in the primary curriculum and the methods and approaches that would support its most effective delivery. At a 1999 Caricom Heads of Government (HoG) Conference, Whyte-Nedd said that a mandate had been issued stating that the programme should be treated as priority and should start at the primary level. In 2003, at another conference, the HoGs had declared that Spanish should be the second language in all Caricom territories.

Workshops were established for teachers from across the regions. According to Patricia McPherson, Senior Project Coordinator from Caricom, the two-day training session was a combination of a series of activities geared towards ensuring that Spanish is introduced in every classroom in Caricom communities. She said the onus is on Caribbean citizens to take up the challenge as the ability to speak more than one language has become essential. Additionally, since Caricom is surrounded by more Spanish speakers than English, the need has become crucial if the Region is to foster greater social, cultural, political and economic partnerships with its Spanish-speaking neighbours, she said.

Verbena Wilburg, a representative from the ministry said there are about five to six thousand different languages spoken around the world and it is important to be able to communicate in each other’s language. She said with the increased travel opportunities, satellite programming and the internet, a truly global community has been created.