Local London Assembly Member John Biggs is concerned about plans to exclude the teaching of prescribed languages such as Urdu and Bangladeshi from primary schools.
He has written to the Secretary of State Michael Gove to ask him to think again. John Biggs AM has also written to Mayor Boris Johnson to ask for him support (letters attached).
Local Labour London Assembly Member John Biggs said:
“It is outrageous that local community languages such as Bengali, Urdu and Polish are not included in the official list of only 7 languages - yet ancient Greek and Latin are.
“Unlike some other languages on the list, they are languages that can and will actually be used actively and not just an academic subjects. The study of classical languages has it place but if the object is to equip today’s students with a language they will actually use, then languages used in the community, and by Britain’s trading partners, are clearly more useful than Latin or ancient Greek with whom there is no-one to converse.
“I fully support the idea of children learning another language but the choice is best left to the teachers and governors on the ground, not to Whitehall mandarins. Michael Gove must think again.”
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