Review Plaid Cymru agreement that English medium education will be abolished.

Plaid Cymru has declared there is a coalition agreement that children will lose their legal right to be educated through the medium English after a new Bill is passed in 2025. Welsh medium education was introduced because native speaking Welsh speaking children were struggling to learn through English. It was not introduced to teach them Welsh. Children do not go to school to learn to talk and walk. Preparing children for a Wales that might exist in 2050 is unacceptable.

Cognitive research into working memory proves that children will always learn most effectively in their most fluent language. Children in Need supports mother tongue learning. Native languages which are acquired from birth are acquired effortlessly. A five-year-old child essentially wakes up with a basic oral language fluency and passive vocabulary of 10,000 words. If children are compelled to learn Welsh to be successfully be educated through the medium of it, it will take years not months. There is a seven year spread in children attainment with most children clustered around average. English is one of the most difficult languages is the world to learn to read in. Dyslexics and children with low learning potential struggle to learn through their native language. The proposal will violate children’s legal Human Right to have the opportunity to reach their full learning potential. Children are facing a very uncertain future.