Previous Story
Ogumoro wants to require PSS to teach Chamorro, Carolinian
Rep. Felicidad Ogumoro (R-Saipan) wants to mandate all public schools in the Commonwealth—elementary, junior, and senior high—to teach the Chamorro and Carolinian language, making the mastery of the language in written and in oral a prerequisite for students to graduate from such schools.
House Bill 19-143, which is set to be introduced formally this week, seeks to enact a law to highly recommend that students who are Chamorro or Carolinian be enrolled in their respective language class.
A student, who is neither a Chamorro nor Carolinian, may enroll in either language classes if he or she so chooses, the bill adds.
The bill tasks the CNMI Public School System to hire qualified or certified individuals to teach Chamorro or Carolinian in the elementary, junior, and senior high school levels, notwithstanding other requirements imposed by PSS for other teaching positions.
The Chamorro or Carolinian language must be used and spoken at all times in such classes, the bill adds.
“The influence of western civilization has made significant changes in the lifestyle of the Chamorros and Carolinians in the Commonwealth, particularly amongst the younger generations, many of whom today can hardly speak, write or understand their own Chamorro or Carolinian language,” Ogumoro’s bill states. “It is feared that sooner or later, the Chamorro or Carolinian languages will disappear.”
The bill says these languages directly links and holds indigenous people to their culture, heritage, and identify, and therefore, the Chamorro and Carolinian languages must be preserved.
