A leading educator in Saint Lucia has applauded the move to introduce the teaching of Kwéyòl in schools.
Earlier this year, it was announced that the island would finally introduce the teaching of what some describe as the “indigenous” Kwéyòl language or “lang manman nou,” in schools at the start of the new school year in September.
The pilot Kwéyòl curriculum has since been introduced to fourteen primary schools and one private institution at the Grade K, 1 and 3 levels. Instructions are being done via two, thirty-minute lessons per week.
On Wednesday, St. Lucia Times spoke with Dr Winston Phulgence on the introduction of the teaching of Kwéyòl in schools. Phulgence is an historical anthropologist with a specialisation in heritage management and head of the Social Science and The Knowledge Society of the Sir Arthur Lewis Community College.
“I think it is a good idea,” he started by saying.
“It allows us as a society to start teaching using our language. What we have had happening is a distancing of people from themselves. It has been too long that we have been discriminating against our people because of their language because I think we all know the thinking is that if you are an educator you are supposed to speak English and if you are not, you speaking kweyol. So language was a mark of class,” Phulgence explained.
“So I think what’s happening now, is that the society is now understanding that it needs to teach its progeny, its language, so that they will be able to function in that space,” he added.
Phulgence cited an example of a young student he described as brilliant.
“If you didn’t see him on the playground you would think that he was a moron because he was not being taught using his language because he was a kweyol speaker,” he said. “When I met him he was articulate, he was a leader, but in the class room he was not, because his language was not being used in the classroom,” Phulgence related.
“So that little example taught me that there is a lot going on that we are not paying attention to because we are not teaching students in that language,” he observed.
Winston Phulgence says that as such the teaching of Kweyol in schools further seeks to legitimise the language and break down some of the barriers that exist.
On August 1, 2022 Prime Minister Phillip J Pierre announced that finally the government and Ministry of Education would make Kwéyòl part of the school curriculum.
In August of this year, the Minister for Education, Shawn Edward, confirmed that the groundbreaking Saint Lucia Kwéyòl Curriculum program would be piloted in local schools in the 2024/25 academic year.
“By including Kwéyòl instructions in the national school curriculum, the government is demonstrating its commitment to preserving Saint Lucia’s cultural heritage for future generations,” a statement from the Government of Saint Lucia said.
“In Saint Lucia, Kwéyòl is more than just a language. Kwéyòl forms part of Saint Lucia’s history and heritage and is the language of Saint Lucian consciousness,” the statement said.
