Caribbean News
Guyana to make Spanish in schools compulsory announces President
Rashaed Esson
Staff Writer
#Guyana, July 12, 2023 – Spanish will be made a compulsory subject in schools throughout Guyana come September, 2023; this was announced by the President of Guyana on Wednesday July 12th; it comes as the country is addressing a shortage of nurses by turning to Cuba.
To aid in a successful transition of this new development, Dr Irfaan Ali, President, at a news conference revealed to reporters that his administration is examining the possibility of hiring Spanish teachers from overseas.
Additionally, he said he is working on a full assessment of the number of local teachers to see who is capable of effectively teaching the subject. He expressed that even though there is capacity at the secondary level, he wants students at grade four or five to start taking Spanish classes.
Ali also highlighted that the Government is in communication with “bilateral partners to loan human resources” in the transition period just until Guyanese teachers can take the lead across the country to teach the subject.
It is not just students who are subject to learning Spanish. Ali pointed out that he also will have ministers of government take classes and he hopes the private sector will do the same.
The opportunity to learn Spanish is also being extended to the general public since the Government is thinking of developing an online platform for citizens who want to learn the language, according to Ali, who expressed he regrets not having the opportunity to further pursue the subject in secondary school as he had to drop it.
Learning a foreign language will help students be more marketable in the working world as pointed out by Ali.
Guyana is currently dealing with a shortage of nurses and so, Ali announced the Government was looking to Havana to help tackle the issue.
Ali spoke on Wednesday with Jorge Francisco Soberón, the Cuban AmSobering, to Guyana in efforts to acquire Cuban nurses to enter the Guyanese system to help fill the gap due to the immediate shortage.
“The medium and long-term is to train and retrain and train more than the capacity that we need according to,” said the president.
For context, nationally, the public health sector has a shortage of at least 1,300 nurses and that’s only a portion of the shortage as the entire Caribbean is struggling with the shortage in not just nurses but other health workers.
By Deandrea Hamilton | Magnetic Media
October 14, 2025 – It’s being called political theatre — but for citizens, constitutional watchdogs, and democracy advocates across the Caribbean, it feels far more serious. Within a single week, two national parliaments — in Trinidad and Tobago and St. Kitts and Nevis — descended into turmoil as opposition members stormed out in protest, accusing their Speakers of bias, overreach, and abuse of parliamentary procedure.
For observers, the walkouts signal a deeper problem: erosion of trust in the very institutions meant to safeguard democracy. When Speakers are viewed as political enforcers instead of neutral referees, parliaments stop functioning as chambers of debate and start performing as stages for power and spectacle — with citizens left wondering who, if anyone, is still accountable.
October 6: St. Kitts Parliament Erupts
The first walkout erupted in Basseterre on October 6, 2025, when Dr. Timothy Harris, former Prime Minister and now Opposition Leader,
led his team out of the St. Kitts and Nevis National Assembly in a protest that stunned the chamber.
The flashpoint came as the Speaker moved to approve more than three years’ worth of unratified parliamentary minutes in one sitting — covering 27 meetings and three national budgets — without individual review or debate.
Dr. Harris called the move “a flagrant breach of the Constitution and parliamentary tradition,” warning that the practice undermines transparency and accountability. “No serious parliament can go years without approving a single set of minutes,” he said after exiting the chamber.
The Speaker defended the decision as administrative housekeeping, but critics were unconvinced, branding the move a “world record disgrace.” The opposition’s walkout triggered renewed calls for the Speaker’s resignation and sparked a wider public discussion about record-keeping, accountability, and respect for parliamentary norms in St. Kitts and Nevis.
October 10: Trinidad Opposition Follows Suit
Four days later, on October 10, 2025, the Opposition United National Congress (UNC) in Trinidad and Tobago staged its own walkout from the House of Representatives in Port of Spain.
The UNC accused the Speaker of partisan bias, claiming she had repeatedly blocked urgent questions, ignored points of order, and allowed government members to breach standing orders without consequence.
“The Speaker has failed in her duty to act impartially,” the Opposition declared in a statement. “Parliament is not the property of any political party or Presiding Officer.”
The dramatic exit was seen as a culmination of months of rising tension and frustration, with opposition MPs arguing that parliamentary rules were being selectively applied to silence dissenting voices.
Political analyst Dr. Marcia Ferdinand described the twin walkouts as “a warning sign that parliamentary democracy in the Caribbean is teetering on the edge of performative politics.”
“When chairs become political shields rather than constitutional referees,” she said, “democracy becomes theatre, not governance.”
A Pattern Emerging
While St. Kitts and Trinidad are very different political environments, both incidents point to the same regional fault line: the perception that Speakers — the guardians of parliamentary order — are no longer impartial.
In Westminster-style systems like those across the Caribbean, the Speaker’s authority depends not on power but on public confidence in fairness. Once that credibility erodes, parliamentary control collapses into confrontation.
Governance experts say the implications are serious: eroded trust between government and opposition, declining public confidence in state institutions, and growing voter cynicism that “rules” are flexible tools of political advantage.
Why It Matters
Parliamentary walkouts are not new in the Caribbean, but what makes these recent events different is their frequency and intensity — and
the regional echo they’ve created. Social media has amplified images of lawmakers storming out, with citizens from Barbados to Belize questioning whether the same erosion of decorum could be happening in their own legislatures.
Analysts warn that if this perception takes hold, it risks diminishing the moral authority of parliamentary democracy itself.
“Once opposition MPs believe the rules are rigged, and once citizens believe Parliament is just performance,” said one Caribbean governance researcher, “you’ve lost the most valuable currency in democracy — trust.”
Restoring Balance
Political reformers across the region are calling for tighter Standing Order enforcement, independent parliamentary service commissions, and training to strengthen Speaker neutrality. Civil society leaders say the public must also play its part by demanding transparency and refusing to normalize partisan manipulation of parliamentary procedure.
Whether these twin walkouts become catalysts for reform — or simply another episode of Caribbean political theatre — will depend on what happens next inside those chambers.
For now, democracy watchers agree on one thing: when opposition leaders feel the only way to be heard is to walk out, the entire democratic house — not just its Speaker — is in danger of collapse.
Angle by Deandrea Hamilton. Built with ChatGPT (AI). Magnetic Media — CAPTURING LIFE.
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