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 12^th; 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.