The Minister for Education and Welsh Language, Jeremy Miles, has announced over £1 million for projects to encourage more widespread use of Welsh.
As part of the funding, £600,000 will be provided to the National Eisteddfod towards hosting the 2022 event in Tregaron. The funding will support the organisation’s preparations for this year’s event, due to take place between 30th July and 6th August, and help achieve its aims of opening the Eisteddfod to a wider audience.
Funding will also be provided to the National Centre for Learning Welsh, for projects which include creating on-line taster courses for refugees and asylum seekers to learn Welsh, without needing to be fluent in English. The Centre, in partnership with Say Something in Welsh, will also create courses provided in the most commonly-spoken languages among refugees and asylum seekers in Wales.
The funding will also be used to provide tutor support for a self-study entry-level course for teachers. There have been 2,700 enrolments on the taster course for teachers since its launch in February 2020. The new course, suitable for both primary and secondary teachers, aims to provide a pathway for teaching professionals into more advanced and intensive courses.
Funding will also be provided to Rhieni dros Addysg Gymraeg to develop information about Welsh-medium education in minority languages. The aim is to support families whose children attend Welsh-medium education, but neither Welsh nor English are the main languages spoken at home, as well as promoting Welsh medium education among minority ethnic communities.
There will be changes to our Helo Blod service, which supports businesses to use more Welsh. Helo Blod will continue to operate its ‘one stop shop’ in Business Wales, while Helo Blod Lleol will come to an end.
Jeremy Miles said:
“Today’s announcement is about making our language and culture easier to access than ever. We’re investing in opportunities for more people to learn, use and teach Welsh, wherever they are in Wales and whatever their background.
“Welsh belongs to us all, whether we speak it or not. We’re delighted to work with our partners on such wide-ranging projects, which all support our aim of reaching a million Welsh speakers and doubling the daily use of our language by 2050.”
