Pashto Course Coming To NHPS

New Haven’s two comprehensive high schools will introduce a ​“Pashto Native Heritage Speaker” course this school year for its increasing population of students who need to improve their writing and reading skills in a language native to Afghanistan and Pakistan before they move on to learning English.

That’s according to a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that the Board of Education’s Finance and Operations committee approved on Monday for the public school district to partner with the local nonprofit Integrated Refugee & Immigrant Services (IRIS). IRIS will be footing the bill for the new course’s non-certified instructor.

NHPS Supervisor of Foreign Languages Jessica Haxhi told the committee that the course will be taught at Wilbur Cross and Hillhouse this school year in response to a the growth in the Pashto-speaking student populations growing at the city’s two largest high schools.

According to NHPS, the number of Pashto-speaking students in the city’s public school system has increased from 268 students in 2019 to 436 students in 2023 to 488 students this most recent school year.

“In many cases some of them have not even been exposed to reading and writing at all in their heritage language,” Haxhi told the school board committee, ​“and those who have, have also had interrupted education, so they do not have a solid foundation in their native language.” That lack of grounding in reading and writing their native language, she continues, often impedes students’ ability to learn English — and limits students’ ability to pass the district’s Seal of Biliteracy test to get state recognition of being bilingual.

The district has had similar courses for Spanish-language students in recent years, and has seen a greater demand for this type of course with an increase in enrollment of refugees.

The MOU states that IRIS has agreed to fully pay for a part-time staffer to teach the class at Cross and Hillhouse for a salary of $22.50 per hour for up to 15 hours a week. This is the customary rate for NHPS’ part-time instructional teachers with a bachelor’s degree.

In the past, NHPS has had Pashto tutors to help students learn English. Haxhi said the district has learned that a course for Pashto-speaking students to improve their skills in their native language would improve their ability to later learn English.

“If you’ve never really learned to read or write, it’s very hard to then apply reading and writing skills to learning a new language,” Haxhi said.

Haxhi said she believes this is the first native heritage course in the state in Pashto. And she hopes for the courses to offer language skills and social-emotional learning opportunities for its students, giving them each a chance to build a community within their schools.

Haxhi concluded that the instructor being considered was an NHPS Pashto tutor last year and has experience teaching in Afghanistan. She said NHPS will offer to help the educator through the teacher-certification process if desired.