On the morning of February 21, 2017 (local time), Karen Best, Chief Education Officer of the Ministry of Education, Science, Technology and Innovation (METI), and Joy Adamson, Vice Chief Education Officer of the METI met with foreign and Chinese Co-Directors of the Confucius Institute (CI) at Barbados at the Ministry.
Prof. Francois Jackman, Foreign Co-Director of CI, firstly introduced the Chinese courses held in St Stephen Primary School and Ellerslie Second School. Prof. Song Qingbao, Chinese Co-Director of CI, then introduced Chinese courses in the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill as well as the Chinese certification examination organized by the Caribbean Examination Council. Mrs. Best appreciated the contributions the CI had made to promoting Chinese language teaching in Barbados and expressed her wishes that the CI could extend Chinese courses from pilot schools to more schools in Barbados. In addition, the two sides exchanged views on curriculum design and faculty training.
As one of the important achievements of the CI at Barbados, the meeting marked the official integration of the Chinese language teaching into the national educational system in Barbados.
