POLITICS aside, all right-minded people would share Coun John Williams' concerns over Blackburn with Darwen Council's decision to give away £25,000 for the teaching of minority languages.
The education budget should remain within a recognised and accountable system. As a concerned Asian, I can confirm that mosques are better placed to deliver a religious syllabus and, incidentally, also receive financial contributions from parents.
Schools and colleges are not only qualified to deliver the teaching of minority languages such as Urdu and Gujerati, but have achieved high success rates.
Isn't it high time that the authority learns from its previous financial misjudgments in handling public finances and the ethnic organisations? The council's misjudgment is most apparent, particularly within our own communities, where the majority have always voted for Labour.
Coun Kathy Stevenson, vice-chairman of education and training, and her colleagues, ought to make better judgment before awarding any further grants to any voluntary organisation, and on behalf of the Asian community.
The fact that the Punjabi language of the majority in this area is a spoken dialect only and does not have any written vocabulary, confirms the indecent manner in which the local authority will stoop to appease a select few.
The 'Gurmukhi' Punjabi, the official language of the Sikh community, which is less than 30 in the Blackburn and Darwen area, has a recognised spoken and written vocabulary. Surely, some of the elected Asian councillors could confirm this - perhaps in written Punjabi!
Name and address supplied
Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article