- 41 community language schools teaching 30 languages, receive grants totalling more than $566,000
More than 4,350 students will benefit from more than $566,000 in grants being provided to 41 community language schools across Western Australia, thanks to the State Government's Community Languages Program (CLP).
The program, which supports not-for-profit community organisations to teach languages other than English and cultural maintenance programs after school hours, has been overhauled by the Liberal National Government to ensure that it is relevant and responsive to the current and future needs of WA's growing multicultural community.
Citizenship and Multicultural Interests Minister Mike Nahan said 81 schools were being supported through the CLP in 2015-16, with 51 languages being taught to more than 6,000 students after school hours.
"Language learning is critical for the conservation of cultural heritage, and community language schools are at the coalface of preserving WA's cultural diversity," Dr Nahan said.
"Furthermore, in a global economy, language skills are a key foundation for our community's future and our State's prosperity.
"Community language schools are often staffed by volunteers and rely heavily on the support of communities. The revamped CLP ensures that these schools have the resources to provide children with the best possible language education."
The CLP grants have been awarded over three categories which are:
- New school grants, which provide operational grants of up to $3,000 for schools that are less than 12 months old
- Per capita grants, which provide operational grants of $100 per student to schools that are more than 12 months old
- Program development grants, which provide up to $10,000 to schools for special projects that will improve the quality and delivery of language education.
Fact File
Languages supported by the CLP in 2015-16 included Bengali, Bulgarian, Chin-Hakha, Dari, Dinka, Eritrean, Farsi, Fijian, Gujarati, Hindi, Hungarian, Igbo, Indonesian, Japanese, Kakwa-Bari-Kuku, Madi, Maori, Mongolian, Ndebele, Nepalese, Niuean, Oromo, Pakistani, Persian, Portuguese, Serbian, Shona, Somali, Swahili, Tagalog, Telugu, Turkish and Ukrainian
Minister's office - 6552 5700
