PNP wants Patois declared an official language
Published:Wednesday | April 16, 2025 | 12:06 AMBryan Miller/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
People’s National Party (PNP) Chairman Dr Angela Brown-Burke is calling for the Government to recognise and accept Patois as the country’s official language, noting that it should be used to instruct children in local schools.
Although the issue has been debated at various levels of government and within the education sector over the years, a national consensus has yet to be reached.
Speaking at a PNP divisional conference in the Sandy Bay Division of Eastern Hanover over the weekend, Brown-Burke emphasised that a PNP administration would ensure that there is an education system that recognises Patois as the Jamaican language.
She pushed back against long-held stigmas that associate fluency in Patois with a lack of intelligence and highlighted the vision of PNP President Mark Golding, noting his commitment to language inclusion in early childhood education.
“ ... The idea is to make sure that you have an education system, in the early years, ... when you go to school at an early age, they can teach and talk to you in [your mother tongue]. That will lay the foundation to learn,” she stated.
“So that by the time you get further up, you can transition to the business English, the language of our masters, which is the English language that is used,” she stated.
She also pointed out that the issue extends beyond education and touches on the rights and dignity of Jamaicans. According to Brown-Burke, during her travels abroad, she has repeatedly heard support for the recognition of Patois from both Jamaicans overseas and foreign officials.
“They have said to me that if Jamaica recognises Patois as an official language, they have the funds to actually employ translators for our Jamaicans, when they go before the court system,” she stated.
She argued that funding for such a purpose cannot be accessed at present because Jamaica has not recognised Patois as an official language.
Brown-Burke argued that formally embracing Patois is central to national identity – “a country where [the] majority of us are of African descent”.