§ Mr. BorrowTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what requests the British Council have received to increase the provision of English teaching in Senegal since 1997; and what response the Government have made. [35014]
§ Mr. MacShaneThe British Council has provided English language training for approximately 300 Senegalese schoolteachers for each of the past three years. This followed a request for increased training from the Senegalese Ministry of Education. The council has also provided training requested by the Ministry of Finance and the Senegalese Youth Council. An English language training centre was established in Dakar in 1997. The centre provides a high quality training programme to fee-paying students.
The British Council also works in partnership with the BBC and four local radio stations to sponsor the transmission of BBC English in four major cities outside Dakar.
There is substantial demand for English Language Teaching throughout Francophone Africa. The British Council is examining how this demand might be met with the resources available to it.