Plans for more Mandarin to be taught in Barbados

Mandarin will soon be taught in more educational institutions in Barbados.

This is the view of the Minister of Education, Science, Technology and Innovation, Ronald Jones, who delivered remarks at the Delivery Ceremony of the Admission Letters for the Beneficiaries of the 2017/2018 Chinese Government Scholarships on Tuesday night at the Chinese Embassy.

He said that it has been quite a number of years now since the Government of the People’s Republic of China has been offering these scholarships to Barbadian students and many have gone overseas to that East Asian nation and have benefitted from both the educational and cultural experiences that they have to offer.

“This has been so many years now that we have been having these scholarships from China and many of our people have benefitted from the various scholarships across so many areas. The Chinese doctor. 110 per cent Chinese Bajan. In fact, Chinese everything. He even talks that way, you wouldn’t believe it. A hybrid Chinese Bajan. He had the opportunity to meet people from the Caribbean and there are people from the Caribbean who have been through the scholarship programme who are in fact working in China on behalf of their Governments to promote business and all of that.”

In fact, the relationship between China and Barbados, which started more than forty years ago, extends beyond the academics, to include advantages in such areas as economic development, military exchanges and medical assistance, said Jones.

“Our relationship with China is now so diversified, that it is of honey, not only in the economic sphere, but in the cultural sphere, in the military exchange and medical support. So it is been deepened as a result of that interaction, but it took some time. The relationship between Barbados and China is just over 40 years. It took some time but it is now moving with rapidity and that is quite good for both countries.”

Therefore, it seems like a natural step for the teaching of Mandarin which is already been done in some learning institutions across this island, to be expanded to even more institutions in order to get more Barbadians to learn how to communicate fluently in this language as Barbados seeks to deepen its ties with China, said the Minister of Education.

“We will be able of course to continue to work with the Chinese people here at the Confucius Institute as they spread their wings through various cultural activities, more particularly the teaching of Mandarin. We have been experiencing some of that in our schools. We are looking as to how we can extend that even more across even a few more of our schools to form a circle around the Cave Hill Campus. So all of this is good.”