Urdu? Come off it!

[NikkiB]

There are plans to teach children, amongst other options, Urdu.
Sorry but too many people coming to this country speak Urdu and nothing else, to our great expense. There is no social, and certainly no economical reason, why Urdu should be funded by the taxpayer. French, yes. They are our neighbours and major trading partner. Learning Urdu will not shape a child for life in Britain or Europe.

[THECORBYLOON]

Would you not think it would be easier for native-Urdu speakers to be taught English by those who could also speak Urdu?

[DottyH]

possibly so corbyloon, but is it not usually a more adult point in a persons life when they decide to teach their own language as a foreign language?

[THECORBYLOON]

Perhaps if the children of to-day learnt Urdu they could then go on to be employed as teachers of English either in this country or abroad in those areas where Urdu is spoken.

There may be wee ones who come to this country who speak only Urdu, they would learn to speak English more quickly if we could talk to them in Urdu.

Being able to speak Urdu must improve relationships with immigrants surely?

[whiffey]

Urdu should not be taught in British schools, full stop.

It will be of course, because Britain is terminally blind.

[jno]

it's quite widely spoken in India, a nation of more than a billion people which is modernising quickly. It may not be all that important right now but by the time today's schoolchildren grow up It seems perfectly possible it will be a bigger trading partner than French. So perhaps today's educators are looking to the future rather than the past?

[Marvelman]

This is Britain, children should be taught English.

[Feena]

And Welsh:-))

[Oneeyedvic]

There are plans to teach children, amongst other options, Urdu.

Actually, a more accurate way of saying this would be:

There has been changes to the school curriculum and schools will be able to teach new lessons in subjects such as British Values / Identities, Economic Wellbeing and Cookery.

Schools will also be able to teach lessons in other foreign languages such as Urdu & Mandarin.

There is no onus on schools to teach Urdu - it is entirely up to them. They can teach French, Spanish, Mandarin, Urdu or whatever they want.

Still, carry on reading the Daily Mail - I'm sure their accurate reporting won't put any type of spin on this story.

[Oneeyedvic]

Sorry but too many people coming to this country speak Urdu and nothing else .... There is no social, and certainly no economical reason,

If lots of people come to this country speaking Urdu why wouldn't there by a social / economical reason. Do Urdu people not speak to other people in Urdu now? Do they not buy things?

So you say that people in this country speak no other language but Urdu but you still don't think it is as useful as French?

[ruby27]

Oneeyevic, glad for your answer because I was really struggling with this post. Somehow I couldn't see how this Government who rather than steering education has driven reforms? which are weighted to evidence performance and achievement. I just couldn't marry up the Government agenda, with encouraging schools to concentrate on teaching language at the expense of English. Now, in context Urdu is one of the languages that can be taught. Thanks.

[Reverandfunk]

Here's a drastic plan - Why not get them to learn how to speak and write english first????

[jno]

I think you'll find English is still taught in schools. It's not being offered as an alternative to Urdu.

[flip_flop]

As Urdu is widely spoken in India - an utterly fantastic country with wonderful people in my opinion - I don't see a problem with teaching it: as a visiter to India many times, I'd've loved to have been given the option of learning Urdu at school.

Thankfully many Indians can speak perfectly understandable English.

Also, as China will at some point in the forseeable future be the world's largest economy, it makes perfect sense to teach Chinese too.

[Pippa68]

My children go to a school which has been renamed a 'language college'.

They have the opportunity to learn Mandarin, German, Italian, Spanish, French etc. Urdu may well appear on the curriculum and I wouldn't have a problem if it did. I think it would probably be far more useful than Mandarin ;o)

However, these are just opportunities to learn the language, they aren't compulsory ~ at least not in high school.

[Reverandfunk]

JNO - I know english is taught in schools, but what is the point of teaching kids Urdu or any other language when they struggle to read and write in english??

[olly8080]

is urdu the same language as that chef off the muppets???

[mushroom25]

correct me if I am wrong, but I always understood the official language of India to be Hindi. In strict economic terms, what would be the benefit of favouring Urdu over the language spoken by most people in India?

[jno]

that's a bit like saying 'why teach French when far more people speak Spanish?' - ie it's perfectly true, but actually you can teach both. There's no ban that I know of on teaching Hindi. Arabic and Mandarin are also on the list of possible subjects. Really, you can get through life speaking nothing but English and knowing nothing more than your 12x tables; but the more you know the better are your chances of making it in the globalised world our children will have to live in.