Maho: --- Education Minister Omyra Leeflang said St. Maarten should focus on making its students multi-lingual instead of wanting to spend monies on translations. The minister said despite the constitutional change when St. Maarten becomes country all administrative work will remain in Dutch and the best way to access the information is to make sure the people is proficient in the language. Leeflang said if one wants to be the owner of their own legal system then they have to be proficient in the language in which the laws are written.
Despite what she said all administrative work will remain in Dutch and for those who wants to change or translate these laws would have to spend much needed monies to do the translation. She said the island can either find the monies to do the translation or use the same monies to enforce education and or public health or build more homes. But making the people proficient can access the information at no cost. The Minister said her dream is to make sure her country is not judged by its size instead it is judged by its quality and competences of its people. "We can be small in size but big in our achievements and competences". She said one must remember that the Antilles are part of a Dutch Kingdom and while speaking more than one language should be considered a privilege it is also a "must" which means it is an important language. However, she made clear that this cannot diminish the importance of the other languages since English is just as important and Spanish which is becoming a second language in some of the Leeward Islands. She said this is also beneficial to those students who wanted to further their education in the Netherlands.
In the educational law made by Minister Leeflang it said that all students on the islands must learn at least two languages and Dutch is one of those languages. Students attending school in the Antilles must take Dutch as a subject until they are 18 years of age. The other languages are Papiamento (for the Leeward's Islands) and Spanish.
Responding to questions on why she is pushing to have more IT in schools the Minster said she is trying her best to facilitate the requirements in the educational law.
All islands of the Antilles met at the Maho Convention Center where they discussed certain topics. Discussed on the first day of the meeting is the organizing of a seminar where they would focus on technology which can be used in education especially in presenting the islands as multi-lingual community. The seminar is scheduled to take place in September 2009. She said the idea is to show that the islands are successful in being multi-lingual. Another topic discussed is to have a UNESCO chair at the University about small islands states. She said the aim for this chair is to present themselves as the expertise as the small islands development states. This she said would enable the islands to show their strength in economic development.
The Minster explained that the first day of the meeting was indeed successful and the islands participated well.
In the meantime, Marcella Henry the UNESCO representative of St. Maarten said four of the islands participated. These meetings she said are held annually which gives the islands the opportunity to discuss relevant issues. She said several delegates will be attending the seminar to discuss culture, education and science and communication and other issues.
Henry said the UNESCO representatives from all the islands also discussed the youth forum. Confirmed she said is someone from St. Maarten who would be part of the delegation that would be going to Paris in October. Also discussed is the participation which would enable the islands to receive funding from UNESCO.
The seminar that is scheduled for September will be focused on the role the media plays in education.
Henry said while all of the topics are important they also discussed the dismantling of the Netherlands Antilles. She said they already brought in someone from Jamaica to walk the islands through the process of requesting to be member of UNESCO when the islands become a country. The discussion she said focused on seeing if St. Maarten and Curacao would have their own associate membership as part of UNESCO. She said the BES islands were also discussed since they too would be affected.
Asked how the idea of the minister was received on introducing more technology in schools Henry said even though the seminar will be held on Curacao that deals with media she requested that a follow up seminar be held on St. Maarten where they would target teachers and policy makers with the idea.