KINGSTON, Jamaica — The National Museum Jamaica (NMJ), a division of the Institute of Jamaica (IOJ), will host its inaugural Heritage Debate on October 3, in partnership with the Jamaican Association for Debate and Empowerment Limited (JADE).

The moot for the debate is: “Should Jamaican Patois Be Considered an Official Language?”

The debates replace the annual Heritage Lecture traditionally hosted by the NMJ as part of National Heritage Month activities in October, spearheaded by the Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport.

Assistant Outreach Officer at NMJ, Stephanie Rose, told JIS News that the decision to host a debate in place of the annual Heritage Lecture was made to foster a more interactive and engaging discussion.

“This year we decided to change things up because we wanted to be more dynamic… something that encouraged more participation and dialogue… where people could come in and express their views in a museum environment. What we want is for people to have this means of exchange [and] discuss culture with one another,” she said.

“Having this kind of debate in this kind of environment, we would have achieved our goal. So it is definitely something different, and it’s a different learning approach,” Rose added.

She noted that the debate will feature high school students, maintaining alignment with the original target audience of the Heritage Lecture.

Teams from Holy Trinity High School and Pembroke Hall High School will face off at the IOJ Lecture Hall on East Street in downtown Kingston.

“The target audience for this programme is particularly high school and tertiary students, because the language that is used with these lectures is a little bit more formal [than] for primary school students; so it’s more suited for high school and tertiary education,” she said.

Rose further explained that the moot was selected following consultation with educators.

“I threw it out to my colleagues and I shared it with a lot of teachers, and the moment they saw that topic, they grabbed on to it. It has been on the table for quite some time, but we have not come to a national consensus yet. I think the talk is still out there, and I think we could shed light on it some more,” she said.

“Patois has been debated at several levels of government and in the education sector. [But] we have never had this in a museum environment where these students could come in and express their views and their ideas and see how they feel, whether it be negative or affirmative. We want to hear what their thoughts are and have dialogue with them and, hopefully, this could impact us coming to a decision to really make this language official,” Rose added.

The Heritage Debate will be hosted by Professor Sonjah Stanley Niaah from the University of the West Indies, Mona, and streamed live on the National Museum Jamaica YouTube channel.

– JIS