Clear majority in favour of Welsh Medium Education.

The Wasting Mule may be a tad disappointed they report that a clear majority of people in Wales want to see every young person leaving school able to communicate effectively in Welsh,

According to the poll, commissioned by Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg (the Welsh Language Society), 63% of the people surveyed agreed that schools “should teach all pupils to communicate effectively in Welsh”, with 37% disagreeing after “don’t knows” were excluded.

Including “don’t knows”, 56% said the aim of every school should be to teach all pupils to communicate effectively in Welsh as well as English, with 33% against and 11% don’t knows.

Ffred Ffransis, Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg’s education spokesman, said: 

“It’s very encouraging to see that the people of Wales agree with us.“The education system should not deprive a single child of the right to be able to communicate and work in Welsh.“At the moment, our system is failing and is creating second-class citizens, without the same work or cultural opportunities as others. That’s because of a postcode lottery of access to Welsh-medium education, their financial circumstances, or their parents’ choice.“As we speak to people across the political spectrum, it’s clear there’s a growing consensus behind us.

The news comes as Professor Graham Donaldson is preparing a review of the school curriculum which will recommend changes to Welsh Ministers at the turn of the year.

The review is considering the conclusions of an independent report by Professor Sioned Davies, which severely criticised the current Welsh second language system saying: “It is undeniably the 11th hour for Welsh second language.”

As we speak to people across the political spectrum, it’s clear there’s a growing consensus behind us.“The challenge to Prof Donaldson and the Welsh Government now is to act in line with people’s aspirations to ensure the system delivers for every child, not only the lucky ones.“There’s now no reason for Prof Donaldson to be under any illusion about the view of the people of Wales and there’s no reason for the Government to delay acting.”

Cymdeithas yr Iaith argues that every school in Wales should teach some subjects through the medium of Welsh, in order to ensure that all young people leave school with the ability to communicate in the language The public’s opinion is more divided on this issue, with 42% believing some subjects should be taught through the medium of Welsh in English-medium schools and 48% against.However, more Labour Party and Plaid Cymru supporters agreed that some subjects should be taught through the medium of Welsh in all schools than disagreed, as did young people aged 18-24 who have just left the education system themselves.

This is very encouraging after much negativity from some quarters including the Mule and you can bet the Trolls on their comments page will be squealing. It looks like there is not just good will for the Welsh Language but a desire to see it grow.

What we need is a vision to make every school in Wales functionally bilingual within 20 years.