LATIN is the root of the English language and should be studied by students, according to Federal Education Minister Christopher Pyne.

As the Opposition attacked the plan yesterday, Mr Pyne enthusiastically backed the inclusion of Latin on the national curriculum.

“Latin is of course the root of the English language and most European languages,” Mr Pyne told the Nine Network.

“It is perfectly sensible and intelligent for Latin to be on the national curriculum. I did Latin at school. It’s a very, very good thing to do.”

FAIL CAESAR: Pyne’s grand Latin plan

From July 1, the Abbott Government will allocate an extra $1.8 million in its Budget for the development of new language curriculums for Latin, Classical Greek, Turkish, Hindi and AUSLAN on top of an existing 11 languages.

The Government says the decision to choose Latin to be part of the national curriculum was made under Labor.

Pyne and other Liberal Ministers to get bodyguards Christopher Pyne says he and other Federal Liberal Ministers will be assigned AFP bodyguards when going to events at Universities after recent protests. Courtesy Channel Nine/TODAY

But the Opposition says classical languages were only added to the national curriculum after the election.

The Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority chief executive Rob Randall said the new curriculum would give schools a wider choice of languages to teach.

“It is schools that decide the lang­uages they want to teach. Some schools may choose to offer Latin as a language to study. Some may not,” he said. “The more language options available for schools, the more likely students will continue to study a language through to their ­senior year.”

But Opposition education spokeswoman Kate Ellis slammed the proposal as out of date. “I think many would believe that it is more practical to focus on languages that living people actually speak,” Ms Ellis told The Courier-Mail.

“Christopher Pyne’s priorities are completely out of touch, no matter what language you say it in.”