100 Russian teachers – but only 13 pupils sat the Higher

NEW figures reveal there are 100 registered Russian language teachers in Scotland, yet only 13 people took a Higher in the subject last year.

Pressure is growing for the language to be treated in the same way as Chinese, which has resource centres across Scotland allowing councils to share the facilities.

The Scotland-Russia Institute is pushing for greater teaching of the subject which is on the official curriculum of only one or two schools north of the Border. By contrast, England has many schools which teach the language.

Despite the number of Russian teachers, very few people take exams in the subject in Scotland.

Last year, 22 people took Scottish Qualification Authority certificates in Russian, two at Standard Grade, seven at Intermediate 2 and 13 at Higher.

The number has been dropping steadily, from 52 in 2004-5 to 37 in 2005-6 and just 26 in 2006-7.

Last year the Advanced Higher in Russian was scrapped due to the lack of uptake.

Jenny Carr, chairwoman of the Scotland-Russia Institute, earlier this month said she hoped new funding would enable creation of new teaching resources – with a long-term aim to create similar facilities enjoyed by Mandarin.

She welcomed a grant of 17,500 from Russian charity Russkiy Mir, which is dedicated to promoting the language in Russia and overseas.

She said: "People have got to realise Russian is interesting and important.

"Russia is a very influential part of the world, and we need to understand it. Russia has a wonderful literature, and it is a very learnable language."