§ John McDonnellTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) if he will make a statement on the establishment of GCSE courses in the Kurdish language; [159248]
(2) what support his Department provides for the teaching of the Kurdish language. [159249]
§ Mr. Stephen TwiggThe Department encourages schools to offer a wide range of languages, including community languages, but does not provide targeted support for Kurdish. Under current National Curriculum requirements, schools are free to offer any modern foreign language, including Kurdish, as long as the offer includes at least one of the working languages of the EU.
The decision whether or not to offer particular subjects at GCSE is one for the awarding bodies. Currently they do not offer a GCSE in Kurdish.