Gaelic pupils win plea to keep transport that will let them finish education

A teenager’s plea in Gaelic for pupils to be able to continue their education in the schools they have attended for years won the hearts of councillors in Falkirk on Thursday.

Members of Falkirk Council’s executive backed an SNP amendment which means all pupils currently in Gaelic Medium Education (GME) will continue to have transport funded, although the council will work with families to find a more cost-effective way to provide it.

The report also offered positive plans to promote the language and culture, promising that the council will bid for funding that would allow them to create Gaelic learning hubs across the district.

Greenfaulds High pupil Isla Duke (16) told councillors in Gaelic, then English, about the stress and anxiety caused to her family by the proposal to remove transport, which would have meant she and her brother would have to change schools.

“You’re treating us like statistics, rather than human beings,” she told the meeting.

Her bilingual speech was praised by members of the executive and particularly SNP councillor Iain Sinclair who said it was wonderful to hear the language being spoken in the council chamber.

Speaking after the meeting, Isla said it was a huge relief to know that she will still be able to attend school with all her friends and do a Foundation Apprenticeship in early years Gaelic education as planned, with hands-on experience at Condorrat Primary School.

The families who attended the meeting criticised the report for suggesting that most pupils would be able to get a direct bus to school, and pointed out how difficult this would be.

Mum Alison Fraser also told the meeting about the mental impact the proposal has had on her children, aged 14 and 11, who have both been in GME since the age of three.

The report, as amended, does mean that families in future who want their children to be educated in Gaelic will have to fund their own transport.

But the hope is that the investment in Gaelic locally will spark more interest in the language which could lead to a GME unit opening in Falkirk.

Cllr Sinclair said it was disappointing that Gaelic is often “used as a political football” and pointed to the success of the local Gaelic learners classes as an example of the interest in the language.

He said he believed the ambition to create Gaelic Language Learning hubs in schools across the district is “a genuinely exciting prospect for education in the Falkirk Council area”.

He added that the hubs, along with the online offer from e-sgoil, would make Gaelic learning more widely available.

He said: “It is not a substitute for Gaelic Medium Education, but I hope that developing these hubs and enhancing the promotion of Gaelic offering in the area, that it is a stepping stone to Falkirk finally being able to develop our own GME unit or school.”

Independent councillor Laura Murtagh, who had earlier criticised the lack of consultation with families and the children affected, withdrew a separate amendment and supported the SNP compromise, which was unanimously agreed.