Teachers from Cuba & Mexico could help Guyana with new Spanish focus  

The Spanish language will be a compulsory language in public schools from September and Education Minister Priya Manickchand said the government is in talks with Cuba, Mexico and other bilateral partners on the possible use of teachers from those countries.

The Education Minister told reporters that much work is underway to ensure that primary and secondary schools are adequately equipped to deliver this subject to all learners in the new academic year.

A majority of secondary schools (about 80%) already have teachers who work alongside students but Manickchand said the local education authorities recognise that more teachers z to be trained to teach the language.

“… we have 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.

President Ali, at a recent press conference, said his government was in talks with “bilateral partners to loan human resources” in the period of transition until Guyanese teachers can fill the need across the country.

Whether foreign teachers are used or not, Manickchand said the Education Ministry is exploring several options to train more teachers in Spanish. Those options include online courses or studies at the University of Guyana (UG) and the Cyril Potter College of Education (CPCE).

She also noted that the National Centre of Educational Resources Development (NCERD) is overseeing the creation of Spanish material that could be used in schools, particularly where there are no trained Spanish teachers.

That material would be written and audiovisual content, similar to other packages created by the body. Tapping the services of retired teachers to help deliver Spanish classes is also an option, Manickchand noted.