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Ceredigion plans to ensure all its 13,450 pupils will become bilingual over the next three years by “fostering pride” in the Welsh language, heritage and culture.

The council’s Welsh in Education Strategic Plan 2017-20, is part of the Welsh Government’s longer term plan to almost double the present number of Welsh speakers of 562,000, to a million - around a third of the population - by 2050.

At the last 2011 census, which showed a sharp decline in the number of Welsh speakers and prompted the Welsh Government to develop its strategy, 43,366 of Ceredigion’s present population of 74,600 said they spoke Welsh.

Revealing its latest plan to be discussed by Ceredigion’s language committee on Monday, author Barry Rees says the authority’s main challenge is to maintain the current high baseline of more than 70 per cent of seven-year-olds receiving a Welsh education - against a national target of 30% by 2020.

While strongly believing in the “educational value” of communicating fluently in both Welsh and English, the authority wants to promote the value placed on the Welsh language - by children, young people, teachers, governors, parents, carers and the public - by concentrating on its “commercial value in the job market.”

Although there are no estimates of how much money would be needed to fund the plan, the authority says it will work to share resources and expertise regionally.

The authority plans to collaborate with Flying Start, Ti a Fi and pre-school providers such as Mudiad Ysgolion Meithrin to ensure babies and their parents become fluent and confident in both Welsh and English from birth through to primary, secondary and college education and beyond.

Among the targets are encouraging parents to use Welsh in the home and offer help with homework.

The authority wants to ensure that Welsh and English-medium primary schools increase their Welsh-medium provision and that latecomers aged seven or over are able to access immersion centres where they can learn Welsh quickly.

They also want to ensure that pupils’ spoken Welsh is fully developed and increase the numbers studying through the medium of Welsh.

Part of the plan also includes courses for teachers and assistants to be able to carry out yard games in schools and encourage the use of Welsh through drama and sport.

More teachers and assistants will needed to be able to teach through the medium of Welsh while courses will be offered for learners.

At the launch of its Strategy on August 1, the Welsh Government said: “The first step in any strategy must be to create enough teachers to teach children through the medium of Welsh.”

It said: “By fostering a willingness to use Welsh among people who speak it, and goodwill towards it among those who don’t we want the language to be a normal part of everyday life.”

It added that better planning was needed to help people learn the language and easier access, a stronger infrastructure and “a revolution” to improve digital provision in Welsh.

Ceredigion’s plan will be presented to the Welsh Government by December 20.

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