Punjabi to continue in UK schools

Punjabi, Gujarati, Bengali, and Urdu (all Indian languages) among others will continue at the GCSE and A levels (equivalent to India’s secondary and higher secondary levels)

The David Cameron government in Britain on Friday reversed an earlier decision by the education officials to withdraw Punjabi and some other languages at the secondary and higher-secondary levels from 2017, and said instruction in the languages would continue.

Punjabi, Gujarati, Bengali, and Urdu (all Indian languages) among others will continue at the GCSE and A levels (equivalent to India’s secondary and higher secondary levels). Official sources said the announcement by education secretary Nicky Morgan marked a significant step in efforts to extend opportunity to young people and equip them with the skills they needed in an increasingly global economy.

Morgan said: “One of Britain’s strengths is its rich, multicultural nature, and ensuring young people have the opportunity to study a wide range of languages is integral to that. Learning a foreign language opens up a whole world of opportunity and ensures that our young people will be able to compete on a global scale.”

Sources said that from 2014 to March 2016, the government had provided £1.8 million (more than `17 crore) to train teachers to teach the new languages curriculum in schools.