Grant-aided Gaelic school considered

[Gràisg]

'A member of Edinburgh parents’ group Comann nam Parant, who wished not to be named, told Holyrood: “I suspect Edinburgh City Council is not going to support [a new Gaelic school] in any way, shape or form because it simply doesn’t have the finance and I think it probably doesn’t have the political will to drive it forward either.” The father of two pupils at the Gaelic medium education unit in Tollcross Primary School continued: “So one option I think we have to look at very carefully is an option whereby a school can be set up with a direct grant from the Scottish Government. Jordanhill, basically, is the model I think we should be looking at - an all-through 3-18 school that is a stand-alone facility.” The 3-18 school could be run along the lines of Jordanhill in Glasgow which is funded directly from the Government, rather than the local authority, and run by an independent board of governors.'

tuilleadh an seo:
http://www.holyrood.com/index.php?optio ... artid=3188

[AlasdairBochd]

I don't think it will happen any other way, by direct government intervention. Edinburgh council has no desire at all to promote Gàidhlig in any way in the capital. Everything they do for the language is done grudgingly.

As a comparison, state schools in Australia are all run by the state governments, which are similar in legislative power to the Scottish Government although they have more freedom to raise taxes. We have nothing like local authorities running schools.

This means that local prejudices have no influence on schools at all, although sometimes national prejudices and political philosophies do.

Local authorities here, there and everywhere else are basically small businessmen's clubs so why would anyone want them running local schools.

[Seonaidh]

Alasdair - maybe you fail to appreciate that some of the larger "local authorities" have populations of similar size to some of the smaller Australian states. In other words, local authorities here tend to be considerably larger - and cover more services - than local authorities in Australia. It's not just schools but also, e.g., libraries, social services and the vast majority of the road network that come under local authorities here. They are certainly not, e.g., "businessmen's clubs".

Anyway, to tropic. Chan eil mi ro chinnteach nach bi Dùn Èideann airson taic a chur do dh'fhoghlam Gàidhlig. Tha comas FhTMhG a' nochdadh, ma tha cuimhne ceart agam, anns a' phlana Gàidhlig a tha iad ag ullachadh an-dràsta.

Agus tha duilgheadas le sgoil a-muigh den shiostam coitchean. Cha bhiodh na sgoilearan a rachadh an siud air am beachdachadh mar "chumanta" agus bhiodh seo a' neartachadh na faireachdainn gum b' ann neònach a tha Gàidhlig.

[AlasdairBochd]

'S docha gu bheil thu ceart a Sheonaidh, NT =300,000 duine ged nach e stàt a th' ann (chan eil daoine gu leòr ann )

I regularly receive two local Scottish newspapers and my comments are true regarding one (the smaller) but not the other. Perhaps size does matter .

Perhaps I am being too harsh but I do read of parents running into many obstacles in various places when trying to establish GME in their area, even when there is considerable demand.

Government intervention when local authorities are being recalcitrant (love that word) may be appropriate.

Tha mi duilich a' Bheurla. Tha "brain fade" orm as dèidh na laithean-saora agam.