CERTAIN schools place more emphasis on teaching Chamorro than on teaching the Carolinian language, Carolinian Affairs Office Executive Assistant Felix Nogis said.
He said Jo-Ann Ythemar told him that she applied for the position of a Carolinian language teacher, but based on her communication with school principals, they wanted to “focus on hiring more Chamorro teachers instead.”
In a letter to Education Commissioner Dr. Alfred B. Ada, Nogis said school administrators are enrolling students in Chamorro instead of the Carolinian language program.
Nogis said parents are also being required to sign a consent form waiving their privilege to enroll their children in the Carolinian language program.
“It’s quite ironic that after you acknowledged the seriousness of the problem based on the disparity in Carolinian students’ data and teacher ratio per school in our last meeting, it is quite evident that Carolinian students are [still] being denied or deprived of the opportunity to learn our language throughout the school system,” Nogis told Ada.
He said “it is quite disheartening and frustrating to learn that more than 10 [Carolinian language teacher] applicants are still pending and not knowing their status or fate as of today.”
In an interview, Nogis said he is willing to testify to the Board of Education to address “the unequal number of Chamorro and Carolinian teachers,” which, he added, is an injustice to the Carolinian children in PSS.
Asked for comment, Education Commissioner Ada said the Public School System needs local funding to support the bilingual program.
“We need funding to support the employment of the program,” he added. “I appeal to the Legislature to fund the…program since it is a local…responsibility.”
He said the American Rescue Plan Act funds cannot be used because the program is not Covid-19-related.
“Now that we have the instructors on hand, the next step is to certify funds, making sure they are available for payroll. I need legislation dedicated to fund the program since it is [mandated by] CNMI law. With all due respect, I need Mr. Nogis to divert his energy toward the Legislature and ask them to transmit at least over $1 million to expedite the process of recruiting Carolinian teachers this school year,” Ada said.
“Honestly, I am very happy that we have Carolinian instructors finally willing to teach the language because it has been a struggle to recruit. Our goal is to teach the language and have it available for students,” he added.
Carolinian Affairs Office Executive Assistant Felix Nogis poses for a photo during an interview on Thursday.
