Minister of Education, Youth and Information, Fayval Williams has shared that Cabinet has approved the terms of the proposed Agreement for Cooperation in Education for Professional and Academic support between Jamaica and the Republic of Cuba.

The recruitment of Cuban teachers to serve in the education system commenced in 1997, as there was a need for foreign language teachers in Jamaica.

Williams noted that under the proposed agreement, Cuban teachers would be contracted solely as the need arises, pointing out that the arrangement “would not be at a disadvantage to the equally qualified Jamaican teachers who would be given priority in these instances”.

Since the inception of the programme, more than 370 Cuban teachers and professors known as specialists have rendered their services to teach in the country’s educational institutions in the subjects of Spanish, mathematics, physical education, agricultural science, chemistry, physics, biology and integrated science.