Concern about Welsh language raised with Welsh Parliament

The Carmarthenshire Welsh Language Strategic Forum along with the Council’s education department have sent a letter to Education Minister Kirstie Williams opposing a clause in the Curriculum Bill which would make it compulsory to teach English in schools in Wales.

The Forum, responsible for promoting the Welsh language in the county, is deeply concerned that this clause will undermine the precedent of Welsh-medium schools that immerse children in Welsh and subsequently introduce English lessons from seven years old to ensure that they become bilingual by the end of school.

Carmarthenshire’s Welsh Language Promotion Strategy and Welsh in Education Strategic Plan aim to restore the Welsh language in Carmarthenshire just as the government’s Million Welsh Speakers Strategy does nationally. The success of these plans is dependent on the success of the county’s Welsh medium schools in immersing children in Welsh from the outset to ensure children’s fluency in Welsh and English.

The Forum and the Education department’s correspondence ask the government to remove this clause from the proposed Curriculum Bill in order to provide a robust platform for the continuation of the Welsh language in the county and beyond.