Filipino bilingual program in Winnipeg needs more students

Supporters of the first Filipino bilingual program in Canada, at AE Wright School above, are hoping it doesn’t have to fold. WEBSITE

WINNIPEG, Manitoba – A Filipino bilingual program at a local school needs more students if it is going to be able to continue.

For the program to continue this September at A.E. Wright School in the Seven Oaks School Division it must enroll at least 20 students in Kindergarten and Grade 1, and another 20 students in Grades 2 and 3.

Educators and community members, like Cory Juan and Ivy Lopez-Sarmiento, are pushing to increase registrations before the end of summer.

Students at A.E. Wright School in the Seven Oaks School Division. WEBSITE

“We’re appealing to the parents and everybody in the Seven Oaks community and school division to support this culture and cultural language,” CTV News Winnipeg quoted Juan, a bilingual program advocate.

Lopez-Sarmiento has twin daughters who attended the program in its fjirst year.

“We are really hoping the Filipino Canadian community can get the word out, show support, and stop the School Division from ending the program,” she said in a press release.

There are more than 80,000 Filipino Canadians in Manitoba, and according to teacher Porfiria Pedrina. “The diversity among our students as newcomer children, as well as second and third-generation Canadians, range from knowing so much to knowing so little about their heritage and language,” she said in a press statement. “The Filipino bilingual program is an important opportunity for them to build their own positive self-identity in a nurturing and safe cultural environment.”