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MULTICULTURAL Manchester is lagging behind in teaching languages at school.
Government figures show fewer than three-quarters of seven to 11-year-olds have an opportunity to learn a foreign language.
That compares to a national average of 81 per cent {ndash} and a figure of 100 per cent in neighbouring areas like Salford and Trafford.
Council chiefs said they would be stepping up their efforts in line with new rules saying all seven-year-olds should be learning a second language by 2010.
The new figures, announced by schools minister Jim Knight, show the percentage of primary schoolchildren given the chance to learn a second language in other areas of Greater Manchester were: Wigan, 96.15; Bolton 96; Bury 94.44; Tameside 90.48; Stockport 87.50 and Oldham 81.25.
Manchester, on 74.29 per cent, was below the national average of 81.38 per cent despite being one of the most ethnically diverse cities in Britain.
One in five residents comes from an ethnic minority, and a recent audit of city schools showed pupils spoke a total of 129 languages.
About 23 per cent of children did not have English as their mother tongue.
The most common non-English first languages were Urdu and Punjabi. Also on the list were Spanish, Polish, Tagalog {ndash} which originates in the Philippines {ndash} and Hakka, from China.
Coun Sheila Newman said: "There are some excellent examples in Manchester of primary schools where teaching of languages is of a very high quality.
"We are working closely with all primary schools in the city to build on this and to ensure that by 2010
every child will begin learning a new language from age seven, in line with national requirements."
Peter McNamara, Salford council's school improvement officer, said: "We are committed to supporting our primary schools in teaching modern foreign languages during school time.
"In a scheme run by the British Council, over 20 foreign language assistants from France, Spain, Mexico, Paraguay and Italy work across our primary schools to provide the expertise needed.
"We also offer beginner and refresher foreign language courses for members of staff in our schools as well as dedicated online resources and support material for teaching."
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Majority of Muslim children are from Pakistan. They need to learn Urdu as a social and emotional language to develop confidence and self-esteem. They need to enjoy the beauty of their literature and poetry. They need to learn Urdu right from Nursery level along with English. They need bilingual Muslim teachers.
Bilingual Muslim children need state funded Muslim schools with bilingual Muslim teachers as role models. State schools with monolingual teachers are not even suitable to teach Standard English to bilingual children. Majority of Muslim children have been leaving schools with low grades because the state schools nevr care to teach them English, Arabic, Urdu and other community languages for the last 50 years.
7/08/2007 at 15:43