The news that the Northcote High School will not proceed with a hurried and ill conceived “review” of its language teaching program, but make part of a long term strategic plan for the school running well into 2018, is a significant victory for democracy and ethnic rights.
The campaign to save the Greek and Italian languages in the NHS has not only averted a catastrophic outcome for these languages and their communities, but it has opened up the possibility for a democratic process for community consultation about the future direction of the entire school curriculum and the essential role that language teaching occupies.
Obviously our continued input is crucial for the fight is still to be won. In this unfolding new situation we should propose and argue from the very beginning that the issue should not be how many languages “the school can afford to teach” but how the school, the school community, the community at large can and the Victorian Government can and must work together to support the languages taught at the NHS and most certainly Greek and Italian, languages spoken widely in the area.
And although the focus is on the NHS, the scope of our concerns should cover so many other primary and secondary schools where languages are struggling to survive and worse there are not offered at all.
Congratulations to all the protagonists, parents, and their Greek and Italian communities, spearheaded by Theo Markos, the Greek Community’s vice president and chair of its Education Committee.
