Schools double as Gaels chalk up £1.5m

Published on Tuesday 25 August 2009 19:49

THE number of dedicated Gaelic schools in Scotland is set to double after the Scottish Government announced further funding to develop the language.

Highland Council is to be allocated 1.5 million towards new primaries in Portree and Fort William where parents have backed the development of schools teaching in Gaelic.

At present there are just two dedicated Gaelic schools, in Inverness and Glasgow, as well as more than 60 Gaelic medium education units in mainstream schools.

The Inverness school opened in 2007 with 96 pupils and now has 126. Two new classrooms are being planned to cope with demand, which could see the school reach its capacity of 150 next year.

During a visit to the school yesterday, Gaelic minister Michael Russell said: "To create a new generation of speakers, investing in Gaelic education provision is an absolute must. Councils across Scotland have seen a huge increase in demand for Gaelic medium places so today's allocations are vital in helping them meet that demand.

"We are ensuring parents and children will be able to continue to make the choice of Gaelic medium education in the knowledge that there will be a place available."

Fewer than 60,000 people speak Gaelic in Scotland and Mr Russell said, despite advances in recent years, the problem of increasing the number of speakers has yet to be solved.

But he said dedicated schools can help: "I have supported dedicated schools and continue to do so. When the language is in considerable trouble as Gaelic has been, then dedicated schools are part of the solution."

Highland Council will shortly be identifying suitable sites for the new schools in Portree and Fort William.

However, it stressed the Gaelic schools would not "jump the queue" of new school projects in the region, but the new money will allow it to acquire sites so they can go ahead when finances allow.

The news was welcomed by Arthur Cormack, chairman of Brd na Gidhlig, the national Gaelic development agency.

He said: "Stand-alone schools offer significantly more opportunities to acquire a wider vocabulary and make more use of Gaelic outside the classroom.

"More opportunity to use the language should promote greater desire to use it, which is essential if we are to grow a generation of young people who will use Gaelic regularly. Brd na Gidhlig would like to see local authorities across Scotland begin to address the needs of Gaelic medium education in their areas, with a view to further promoting its availability and expanding its reach."

A total of 2,206 primary pupils are presently taught in Gaelic in Scotland – up from 2,164 last year – and there are 981 taking Gaelic as a subject in secondaries, up from 968 last year.

Another 864 are registered for Gaelic pre-school education.

The Glasgow Gaelic School opened in 2006 and now has 307 primary pupils, 145 secondary and 50 in the nursery. This year 71 pupils entered primary 1 compared to 48 in its first year.