Welsh Assembly announces Welsh language education strategy

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The Welsh Assembly Government aims to increase the percentage of seven-year-old children who are educated through the Welsh language from 21 to 25 per cent by the year 2015.

Gwyn Griffiths pour Gwyn Griffiths le 13/05/09 14:20

The Welsh Assembly Government aims for 25 per cent of seven-year-old children to be educated through the medium of the Welsh language by the year 2015. At present the figure is 21 per cent.

These targets were announced by the Assembly Government's Education Minister, Jane Hutt, at Ysgol Gyfun Rhydywaun, The Welsh Medium Comprehensive School, in the Cynon Valley, today (May 13, 2009). Ms Hutt was launching the first ever all-Wales strategy document for Welsh Medium Education.

Provision for Welsh Medium Education varies greatly across Wales with the demand often greater than the places available. Cardiff is one of the education authorities where there have been problems.

While the increase in the number of Welsh Medium schools in the city has been praised in recent years there are still many problems. Welsh schools are full to over-flowing as the demand for Welsh education continues to grow. But parents at English medium schools with empty classrooms and declining pupil numbers battle to keep their schools.

Councils will be expected to research in detail the demand for Welsh education among parents with new-born children and to plan their provision on the basis of that research.

“I want to ensure that there is access to Welsh Medium education in all parts of Wales for those who choose it for their children, and that there is continuity of provision at all stages in the education process from the early years through to higher education,” says Ms Hutt.

The strategy aims to raise the percentage of pupils who take their GCSE subjects through the medium of Welsh from 10 to 13%. The strategy also aims to increase the number of teachers competent to teach through the medium of Welsh and to improve the provision for education through the Welsh language at colleges and universities.

Parents opt to send their children to Welsh schools for a variety of reasons. Some do so for cultural and patriotic reasons. Others do so because they believe their children will have better job opportunities when they grow up.

There is also an increasing awareness of international research that shows that children who have been brought up speaking two languages do better in school.

Gwyn Griffiths is an ABP correspondant in Wales. A Welsh delegate of the International Committee for the Defense of the Breton Language (ICDBL) and former journalist with BBC Cymru, he is a contributor to several Welsh newspapers and magazines – one of them is Cambria. He is the author of numerous books and articles in Welsh and English – many of them about Brittany. He is co-editor, with Jacqueline Gibson, of \"The Turn of the Ermine. An Anthology of Breton Literature\". (London, Francis Boutle Publishers, 506 p., 2006). He is a great connoisseur and friend of Brittany which he has visited on over 50 occasions.

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