COLOMBIA NEWS – Colombia’s President Juan Manuel Santos on July 10 launched the English-language television show “Colombia Very Well,” with the goal of promoting bilingualism as part of education.
Today, only 9,000 high school graduates in Colombia have an intermediate level of English, and the government’s goal is to increase that number to 185,000 in ten years, Santos said.
“ Estoy seguro de que es una inversión que vale la pena” (I am sure it is a program well worth it): President Santos
The program will start on 2015 and is expected to last until 2025.
In addition to focusing students, the initiative benefits workers in the private and public sectors with the knowledge of English.
Santos said the initiative will include immersion programs in the island of San Andrés – an English-speaking state of Colombia north of the mainland – and in other countries, and it will incorporate phone and tablet apps. It will also include delivering six million English textbooks to students.
Soruces: El Tiempo; EL Heraldo; Presidency of Colombia (Colombia)
