The B.C. Teachers’ Federation is worried about the implications of a British Columbia school accepting funding from the Chinese regime for a bilingual Mandarin program.
The program is a pilot project at an elementary school offered at the kindergarten and grade 1 level in Coquitlam. It has received $10,000 in learning materials through an organization called Confucius Classroom, a subsidiary of Confucius Institute, an agency of the Chinese regime.
B.C.’s education minister Margaret MacDiarmid has endorsed the donation and said the funding means that the cash-strapped school district, which is struggling as a result of the economic downturn like other districts in the province, can afford to offer the language program.
“I think having some outside funding available for a program like this is very helpful,” MacDiarmid said in a media conference call last Friday. “I think that this is very positive to have this support and interest from the government of China.”
But Susan Lambert, president of the B.C. Teachers’ Federation (BCTF), says the province should think twice about accepting the donation, as any time an outside agency—be it a foreign government, corporation, or individual—wants to undertake a sponsorship, there is an underlying reason.
