The policy to support Community Language Schools seeks to open economic opportunities for young Australians. Photo: Joaquin Corbalan.
The Labor Party has announced that a re-elected Albanese Government will invest $25 million to support 600 community schools across the Commonwealth that help almost 100,000 students learn 84 languages.
Australia is one of the most diverse nations on earth and half of Australians were born overseas or have at least one parent who was.
Community Language Schools bolster social and linguistic inclusion by supporting young Australians from all backgrounds, particularly culturally diverse ones, to learn or maintain their knowledge of a language other than English.
By connecting young Australians to the language of their parents and grandparents, it creates a cultural continuum between generations and enhances the linguistic abilities of Australians.
Some $5 million of the $25 million pledge will go to a funding stream for specialist Asian languages to help more students become conversationally fluent in those languages through to senior high school.
The benefits are both cultural and economic as greater linguistic ability gives people greater employment opportunities and more diverse career paths, and strengthens relationships with neighbours and partners in the Pacific and Asian regions.
The government said considering that Asia was Australia’s largest trading region and that our security and economic interests lay primarily to the north, it was imperative that as many Australians as possible spoke an Asian language.
The Labor Party statement also attacked the Liberals, criticising them for letting Community Language Schools fall into ruin as they became largely volunteer organisations where teachers gave their free time and supplied educational material themselves.
