English: an imperative to open up to the world

“We have to solve the problem that the Cuban professional is not able to express in the universal language,” said the Minister of Higher Education. Cuba is directing its steps towards this strategy

Carlos Heredia Reyes

The decision by the Cuban government to prioritize the study of English in schools and universities, has generated various opinions in the population, while recognizing the strategic importance of the action that far greater challenges lie ahead in overseas trade and foreign investment, and particularly in Cuba-US relations.

“Language is essential, because every day we will have more contacts … in technology, all of it, you have to speak English. And, if they speak two or three languages, the better. But English is essential,” said Jose Ramon Machado, second secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba, speaking at the closing of the National Council of the Federation of University Students on August 29 last.

Still many professionals, especially those older ones, remember those years of the 1970s when the subject was replaced by Russian, given the close ties we had with the Soviet Union, and how after the collapse of socialist camp, English returned to the curriculum from primary school to higher education.

But apparently, from the 2016-2017 school year together with the teaching of the history of Cuba and the Mother Tongue, learning English will be given maximum priority.

“We have to solve the problem that the Cuban professional is not able to express himself in the universal language of our time. The universities provide students with courses and access to computer platforms that allow them to learn independently. Some students prefer to go it alone, others may do a proficiency test, but they will have to demonstrate proficiency. This measure will be applied gradually because we must create the conditions for applying it,” said Dr. Rodolfo Alarcón, Minister of Higher Education (MES).

Some compatriots consider that the requirement to demonstrate skills in that language in order to graduate from university should be an option to decide and not an obligation. There are people who are very intelligent and dedicated in their field and have no facility with languages ​​and this will cause them frustration, says one of the arguments offered by a reader of the newspaper Granma, in a meeting through its website, the daily told the Ministry of Education.

In this regard, the head of MES himself said in a press conference that it is not a requirement for the current course, “nor even generalized for the next, but it will be implemented as conditions are created in each province “.

At a press conference, Alarcon said that from now on English will disappear as a compulsory subject in the curriculum and schedule of universities.

This matter will continue to provide courses and a series of computer resources for self-education, they will be provided so that students can take classes as often as they wish and enrol at the level they consider sufficient, or even take the proficiency test in case they feel ready to do so, he added.

Actually the problems in learning English develop not when they are pursuing a degree, but are already with them in the stage of the primary and secondary schools.

But the country will have to address the lack of teachers in that subject in general education, a deficiency that cannot continue impacting as our graduates enter professional life, sometimes unable to sustain the simplest dialogue in a language that has become universal in academia.

For quite a few self-employed, the measure is useful, timely, necessary at a time when Cuba is betting not only on increasing the presence of foreign capital but tourists here, a lot of them Americans, in addition to the restrictions that still exist through the economic, commercial and financial blockade of the US against the Greater Antilles.

In those businesses or activities which also provide services in English, the chances of success are greater, rightly say a few private entrepreneurs, and that competition generates a higher quality customer service.

Without it, how much profit it generates for anyone, and the country itself, to have a professional or qualified not only in their field or specialty, but fluent in the universal language, will open the doors to any nation where it is essential to master English.

But remember that English is probably considered third in the world in number of speakers who have it as their mother tongue – between 300 and 400 million people, and the second most spoken, after Mandarin Chinese, if you take into account those have it as a second language – over 200 million people. These are arguments for the priority of its teaching in the country.

Translated by ESTI