The number of students obtaining GCSE qualifications in Indian subcontinent languages such as Gujarati and Urdu has seen a decline, figures from the House of Common’s library showed.
Obtained by Labour and Co-op MP Gareth Thomas, the data has revealed an almost 22 per cent decline in students studying Gujarati at GCSE Level and an almost 30 per cent decline in those studying Urdu since 2015.
The figures also show even more dramatic reductions in students obtaining Punjabi and Bengali GCSES with an over 39 per cent and 51 per cent decline respectively over the same period.
The Harrow West MP, who led a successful campaign to maintain GSCE and A-level language qualifications in community languages, said the marked decline exposes minister’s failure to invest in these languages.
“Given the need to turbocharge trade with India to create jobs and opportunities for British businesses losing language skills in India’s key languages is a serious concern,” he added.
These four languages combined are spoken by approximately 480 million people worldwide.
“Moreover, children learning these languages develop skills which help their performance in other parts of the curriculum,” Thomas noted.
“Community efforts, through temples and saturday clubs, have been great at helping young people learn languages and I urge the government to recognise the need to offer proper financial support to them to help local communities and schools to support young people learn these important languages.”
