Carolinian Affairs Office Executive Assistant Felix Nogis, second left, with Carolinian Bilingual Recruitment Task Force members, from left, Tina Kaipat, Rachel Aiken, Gloria Rasiang, Fidelina Mafnas, Iunisi Pomee and Camilla Pua in the CAO conference room on Wednesday. Not in the photo are the other task force members, Claire Cabrera and Monica Pua.
THE Carolinian Affairs Office on Wednesday informed Education Commissioner Alfred B. Ada that it has established a Carolinian Bilingual Recruitment Task Force to address the shortage of Carolinian or Refaluwasch language instructors in the CNMI.
CAO Executive Assistant Felix Nogis met with the members of the task force on Wednesday to start the work in addressing the "unequal" number of Chamorro and Refaluwasch language teachers in the Public School System.
The task force members are Tina Kaipat, Rachel Aiken, Gloria Rasiang, Fidelina Mafnas, Iunisi Pomee, Camilla Pua, Claire Cabrera and Monica Pua.
In a memorandum, Nogis also asked Ada for the exact number of Carolinian bilingual teachers that PSS expects to recruit.
Nogis at the same time said he was pleased to learn from U.S. Congressman Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan that $311,939 has been allotted for the Chamorro and Refaluwasch language immersion program of PSS.
Kilili included this funding in the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies appropriation last year.
He said it will support indigenous language instruction in 14 PSS classrooms, as well as the continuing development of curriculum to foster the preservation of the Chamorro and Refaluwasch cultures.
PSS, for its part, said it is already addressing the lack of qualified Carolinian language teachers, and has reached out to the CAO to assist in “recruiting and or conducting an outreach.”
