The following email has been sent out to most, but not all councillors, in Tower Hamlets. It was forwarded to me by someone whose family is not of Bangladeshi background.
Dear Councillor,
I would like to invite you to a ‘Public Meeting’, as our Special Guest, that we are organising in support of and to invigorate our campaign for the delivery of ‘Bengali’, our Mother Tongue, as a Modern/Foreign Language in mainstream primary schools in England, in compliance with the Government’s Modern/Foreign Language Policy for primary schools.
This meeting will commence on Saturday, 11th of June 2011, at 3.00pm, at the Waterlilly Conference Hall, 89 Mile End Road, London E1 4US (entrance on the Mile End Road, next to Blockbuster).
You will appreciate that this is a common and rightful cause, thus we have to work together with absolute determination and unity of purpose, in order to establish ‘Bengali’ as a Modern/Foreign Language at key stage 2 (from year 3) in the curriculum of primary schools in the demographical areas of England, where there is a concentration of Bengali speaking communities. We have to conduct this campaign unceasingly until we achieve a successful outcome so that we can ensure that our children have the opportunity to learn their first language in primary schools, at key stage 2, and reap the immense benefits, that it will bring to them in terms of acquiring linguistic and multi-skills, improving educational attainment, developing the knowledge of our culture and roots and enhancing career and economical opportunities and to strengthening community cohesion.
As a Councillor of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, your participation in this meeting will add immeasurable weight to this campaign and your support is vital for the achievement of our right.
A positive response from your good offices would be highly appreciated.
Yours sincerely,
Muhammad Ghulam Mortuza
(Convenor, Campaign for Bangla in Mainstream Primary Schools in England)
Dr. M A Hannan
Director Tower Hamlets Parents Centre
Unit 1 Links Yard
29 Spelman Street
London
E1 5LX Tel
020 7650 8936
The Department for Education told me the following today: the teaching of a modern foreign language is not compulsory at primary school. At secondary level, between the ages of 11 and 14, it is. It used to be the case that a major European language had to be taught. That is no longer the case: today, the only requirement is that a “world language” must be taught. World languages are not defined, but the DfE spokesman confirmed that Bengali would fall into that category. He said it would be a matter for the school governors to assess their resources and decide what to offer.
The DfE spokesman said the decision of secondary schools in a particular area should be important in determining what is offered at primary level. He reiterated that it would again be a matter of resource: if the governors of a primary school wanted to offer Bengali, that would be up to them, but that might have an impact on their ability to teach other languages, such as Chinese or French.
In fact, here’s their response:
There’s isn’t a specific list of languages that can be taught at primary schools. It’s down to individual schools as to what they chose – however it is obviously dependent on the school having the relevant teachers, and good schools will usually discuss options with parents, and also with neighbouring secondary schools so that they offer the same languages.
Anyone familiar with the history of Bangladesh will know that the issue of the Bengali language is emotive. Personally, I’m a great believer in children learning a foreign language: done well, it can foster a broader outlook and it is a good discipline in itself. Languages are also important in helping the children of immigrant families learn about their history, culture and roots.
However, I do wonder about this campaign. Look at the language of the email: that Bengali is “our Mother Tongue”; that children will have the learn “their first language” in primary schools. I wonder whether it’s the older generation driving it. Are older Bengalis in denial about their kids and their grandchildren? Perhaps they don’t hear them speaking English as they hang out on streets or as they mess around in the playgrounds?
Should public money be used to fund such lessons? Are parents not better equipped to teach their kids Bengali at home (should they wish) and so allow their children the chance to learn another foreign language at school. Perhaps learning Bengali would be the better option. But why would teaching it “strengthen community cohesion”?
It’s a tricky subject: open to all for debate…
Trial by Jeory 
In my job, I have to take personal details from clients on my legal aid forms. Sometimes with Bangladeshi clients, their language is so bad that I can’t understand, so I get them to fill out the form themselves. Often when they get to the section that asks where they were born, they write “London Hospital Whitechapel”.
If children aren’t taught to speak English before the age of 3 or 4, then it is not hard-wired into the growing brain. This means that when they do learn English, it will always be as a foreign language. They will always have an accent even if they take numerous elocution lessons.
It would be useful for them to have a fluent 2nd language, but not half as important as speaking English as a native language. The campaign they should be having is to get children speaking English from the age of 3 years old or before, to ensure they are not disadvantaged for the rest of their lives.
I agree Dan, there is something seriously wrong with our education system, particularly as I often come across white British kids that I can barely understand…
Just another step in the total and planned “Bengalisization” of the East End: Import a big – and getting bigger by the day – Bengali population into a small area, become the dominant population, elect your own councillors, keep your own culture and don’t integrate, start naming areas after your own country (i.e. Banglatown), believe in a very aggressive and closed religion, then when all the indigenous locals have been forced to move out, (because they feel afraid and unwelcome in the area they were born and bred in) then start teaching Bengali in schools. In 10 years time LBTH will be Bangladesh in all but name – and even that will change. London Bangladesh of Tower hamlets anyone?
I’m no racist – unlike a lot of people, I believe that we are all equal whatever our skin colour/religion/creed – but when I see an anti gay, anti-indiginous, anti-secular movement taking over this community, with their own agenda, I see racism.
Then what do I know – I am just an infidel/Kaffir.
“I’m not racist but…….” you’ve shown your true colours. If you don’t like modern Britain emigrate to the North Pole, I hear it’s all white there.
I am rubbish at foreign languages and wish I had learnt them at school from an early age. Personally I think we should ditch french (it isn’t that widely spoken) but teach a language that is likely to be of use – I would say Spanish. Whilst I am sure it is great for cultural identity to learn your parents’ mother tongue, I think opting for Bengali would perpetuate the already poor levels of English that I notice daily around here. And what about the pupils of non-Bangladeshi origin? Or do we want to encourage apartheid in our schools? Bangladeshis go to one school and the rest go to another?
“…so that we can ensure that our children have the opportunity to learn their first language [Bengali]…and reap the immense benefits…enhancing career and economical opportunities…”
With all due respect, where exactly is the evidence that speaking Bengali brings career or economic opportunity?
In fact, isn’t it the case that learning to speak English properly is far more likely to bring the Bengali community those very same opportunities?
As a former resident of Tower Hamlets I remember the drive in the eighties for ” Mother tongue ” teaching in the schools. That meant that all subjects would be taught through the medium of Bengali. In those days the schools were mixed and there was a revolt by white parents which led to essentially segregated schools.
I agree with the post above that probably the best foreign language to learn is Spanish as, excluding Mandarin, it is the second most spoken language in the world and like English is widely spoken. As far as I can see this ploy is just a way of some of the elders inventing yet another scam for diverting public funds to some scheme where they can be misappropriated.
What a non-story, generating the predictable reaction.
Ted, It’s ironic that you are writing this tiny potential expenditure when a major scandal about English language learning is unfolding in the borough. The government is making savage cuts to the provision of English classes and this is now being implemented locally.
On Tuesday Tower Hamlets College ESOL lecturers, of whom I am one, were told that another 50% of Outreach provision (that is, away from the main college sites, in schools and community centres) will be cut next year. We haven’t heard yet about what this means for overall student numbers, but we can be sure that among the hardest hit will again be women with children, who of course have a huge role to play in the development of their children’s language skills. Community partnerships that took years to build are being destroyed in an instant, leaving nowhere for these learners to go, and ESOL teachers being forced to retrain into other fields.
There are thousands of people already on the waiting lists for English classes. Most people in the borough who don’t have English are desperate to learn it and for their children to learn it well. Are you really suggesting that the cuts in support for English classes are coming about because money is instead pouring into Bangla teaching? Absurd. I think rather it’s the policy of a government in thrall to a right-wing media that blames migrants for all Britain’s problems.
I think Ted is right that Mr Hannan’s campaign mostly represents an older generation for whom ‘Mother Tongue’ carried a great cultural and political meaning. This is not a big movement any more. Not so many children study Bengali nowadays, though many do attend (privately funded) Arabic classes. There is no chance in hell that Bengali is going to become the medium of instruction in any mainstream school. There are probably a few hundred people at most doing Bengali at GSCE level (does anyone know the figures?)
By the way, a language teacher, I can tell you there is no contradiction between learning English and the formal study of other language including Bengali. Bilingual learners have many advantages over monolingual ones and there is a lot of research to show that this can carry over into other subjects. While I see the advantages my native English-speaking children start out with in school, I am also envious of my children’s classmates who speak two or more languages. My children will have to wait till secondary to learn a language (they do Spanish at their (95% Bengali intake) primary but in a very token amount). At my local secondaries Oaklands and Morpeth I think pupils can learn Spanish, French or Bengali. Bengali is not only the local community language but also a major world language with hundreds of millions of speakers and a fantastic literary tradition.
Ted, why not cover the story of the catastrophic loss of ESOL classes going on all around you?
Thanks, Rebecca.
No. What makes you think I was suggesting that? The post was about the teaching of modern foreign languages in primary school, ie the choice between Bengali and, say, Spanish. As I wrote in the post, the earlier kids learn a foreign language, the better. I completely agree with you. Most kids in Tower Hamlets have English as their first language: English is their Mother Tongue and it’s insulting to them to suggest otherwise.
You’re right, the question of ESOL funding is an important story. We need people like you to go on the record and speak out. Feel free to email me directly.
Apolgies, I was confusing your post with some of the comments.
And thanks, I will email you re the ESOL cuts when I have a moment.
Surely if the majority of the parents in a school, the school governing body and the school community support the teaching of a particular language, any language for that matter then that is the schools decision?
While I tend to agree, is it as simple as that?
It depends, are we saying that some languages are more important than others and who should decide? Are we saying we can’t trust the judgement of schools? You say “Should public money be used to fund such lessons?”, well should public money be used to fund Spanish, French or Hebrew? Are British citizens of Bengali heritage tax payers as well? There is an interesting article in the Guardian, which extols the virtues of bilingualism rather than as some on this blog who seem to have views that have worrying undertones.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/jun/12/ellen-bialystok-bilingual-brains-more-healthy
Re” the reply to my “I’m not a racist but.”. comments..
FYII don’t want to live in a all white society and I never said that, I would like to live in a multi-cultural society – unfortunately I live in a part of LBTH that is MONO-Cultural i.e. totally Bangladeshi. Replacing a dominant indigenous white society with a dominant Bangladeshi community is not multiculturalism – it is replacing one dominant culture with another. That is not multiculturalism.
I oppose anti homosexual, anti-wormen, racist and anti democracy structure wherever I see them – and I will oppose it in LBTH now – as I am afraid the large part of the dominant community is that way inclined. Did you see the anti gay posters in Brick lane? Have you seen the books titled “Women who deserve to go To Hell” down the same street on open sale with no local objection? If this was the BNP you’d be opposing them, if it was the Nazi’s you’d be opposing them but you won’t oppose it now because …….?
Ted is doing a great job pointing out very relevant and dangerous changes to our society. Discussion on subjects like this don’t surface because people get tarred with “racist” or “islamaphobic” brushes – which you have tried to do to me as a easy copy out.
If you read my whole comments I believe everyone is equal – how racist is that? Just because I am against anti democracy, anti gay and anti women’s issues doesn’t make me a racist. If you can’t see what’s going on around you, keep readings Ted’s site – it will enlighten you.
“Just another step in the total and planned “Bengalisization” of the East End”, “believe in a very aggressive and closed religion”, your words not mine. It’s quite obvious you are a conspiracy loon and anti-Muslim. Your sweeping generalisations and stereotyping of a whole community clearly exposes you for what you are. I’m sure the EDL would welcome you with open arms and you might want to join their planned march in Tower Hamlets in August. Bring on the battle of Cable Street part deux! Also, if you hadn’t noticed many parts of the borough and it’s heritage has been shaped and named by numerous immigrant communities over the centuries, most notably in recent times the Jewish community. Should we erase their history and contribution and if not why do you view Bengalis differently?
It’s also interesting how racists and EDL types phrase their objection to muslims because they believe Muslims are “against anti democracy, anti gay and anti women’s issues”. It is bizarre how fascists seek to cloak and align themselves with other minority groups to lend themselves credibility as was the recent example of the East End Gay Pride Group which was outed as a cover for the EDL, but of course the entire victimisation and vilification of an entire community is aided by the unscrupulous reporting of the right wing media. It wasn’t that long ago that all sorts of antisemitic stories were the order of the day. We need to be vigilant and not allow scare mongering to divide our communities. There has been a recent campaign by some to stir up tensions and paint an alarming picture of life in Tower Hamlets, which is far from reality. In fact the following by Terry East of Out East is an excellent article that helps to dispel the myths and fear mongering that is currently in wide circulation. Well worth the read.
Terry Stewart of Out East has responded (in a personal capacity) to the statement/open letter by LGBT activists reported in yesterday’s Guardian.
Islamaphobia, middle class journalists and the Pim Fortuyn List?
Far be it from me to quote Conservative Chairs, but Sayeed Warsi, is more progressive than the individuals who drafted the Guardian letter, when it comes to the issue of Hate.
“Islamophobia has now crossed the threshold of middle-class respectability. It is a socially acceptable form of bigotry, often dressed up in the clothes of liberalism.”
One look at the letter and you begin to see a pretty nasty scenario unfolding, if not opposed by people who are genuinely opposed to all forms of hate, whether it is racism, homophobia, Transphobia and Islamaphobia.
The LGBT community are not alone when it comes to attacks upon our community simply for daring to be who we are and living an open and loving life with the person of our choice, dressing or choosing our identity in what way we want.
Trans people are constantly in fear of their lives, whilst on the street or in their homes, yet one members of this list, has made it her life’s ambition to be as hateful as is possible to the Trans community.
One look at the murder rate of Trans people World wide and you begin to see that the highest murder rate of Trans is in Latin America and not in the Middle East or countries which practice the faith of Islam.
Look at the figures of hate crime against the LGBT community in the London area and again we see that the highest rates are not in Tower Hamlets or communities with a high density of Muslim people. The figures speak for themselves:
21% increase in Tower Hamlets,
26% Westminster,
26% Lambeth,
29% Brent,
60% Islington,
60% Croydon,
62% Sutton,
75% Enfield,
83% Havering,
83% Kingston-upon-Thames,
125% Harrow.
Actual numbers of reported homophobic crime are, 21% rise in Tower Hamlets is a total of 81 cases in the last year, an additional 14 cases. 88 cases in Islington in the previous year before, a 60% increase to 131 cases. It equals the 82 cases in Camden achieved after a 13% reduction. It is significantly less than Westminster’s 148 cases and Lambeth’s 132.
I remember in the 80’s the Rev George Hargraves (Who produced the Gay anthem of the period Macho macho man song by Sinita) from a Hackney Evangelical church, making some of the most horrendous homophobic statements. At no stage did we see this as the voice of the Black community, simply the rantings of an individual homophobe, who was also happy to pick up the royalties generated by his Gay anthem.
The statements which were made on the Homophobic stickers were also just the rants of a small group of Homophobes and again most of the LGBT community in East London felt the same.
So why are a small group of Journalists, Writers, Rag Tag and Bobtail pushing the story that the Muslim community in Whitechapel is baying for the blood of the East London LGBT community?
Tower Hamlets is not alone when it comes to a small section of the LGBT community linking in with the Far Right. Look at other cities in Europe and you see members of the far right along with member of the LGBT community marching into Immigrant communities and attacking those communities and the argument of Homophobia is used as the reason for such actions.
This is also reflected in the political arena, with a sizeable section of the LGBT community falling into line with this racist and Islamaphobic right. We seen this in the Netherlands with the rise of The Pim Fortuyn List.
As I said at the beginning we are not alone in the LGBT community when it comes to hate crimes. Many Muslims across the country are being terrorised by racist’s thugs and yet we hear nothing about it.
Young women are spat on in the street, Mosques are attacked and fire bombed. Even the dead are not allowed to rest. Graveyards have been desecrated. From Leicester to Scunthorpe this has been the experience of the Muslim community. Yet if the group who signed the article are serious about hate crime, then they have to extend that support to the Muslim community, something they not only fail to do, but end up becoming part of the mob.
I think the authors of the letter need to address the whole communities’ experience of hate, rather than attacking and undermining the very valuable work carried out by the East London LGBT Community, Tower Hamlets Council, The Metropolitan Police and the East London Mosque, in our attempt to deal with Homophobia, Transphobia, Islamaphobia and all hate crime in our community.
We have and will continue to challenge Homophobia, from which ever quarter this comes including all faith groups and it is for this reason that Rainbow Hamlets and other held a conference on Faith and Homophobia, here in Tower Hamlets last month.
We will be having a festival for the whole community specifically around hate and our priority will be aimed at making sure the LGBT community is totally included in every aspect of community life here in Tower Hamlets.
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_143355789061521
Just came across this wonderful article by another conspiracy loon by the name of Andrew Gilligan. Be afraid, be very afraid
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/8570506/Police-covered-up-violent-campaign-to-turn-London-area-Islamic.html
Adrian,
Are you being sarcastic or what? There is specific evidence here that not even the most die hard Trotskyist/Islamosfascist can ignore. Or do I mean ironic?
Ted, well done on the post and hope it does generate some debate. In answer to – Should public money be used to fund such lessons? – the answer is quite simply ‘no’. I am struggling to understand from Mortuza’s letter how it would improve community cohesion???
As the offspring of Bengali parents, I was raised here, in London, from the age of one. My parents taught me Bangla (and Sylheti) at home and through ‘Bangla classes, while they viewed primary school as where I would learn English, and secondary school where I could take on other languages should I wish to.
Incidentally, I took Bangla GCSE and learnt French in the first three years at secondary. What I so so so wish I had the opportunity to learn however was Spanish and Mandarin; one is the most widely spoken language after English, the other would have equipped me to take advantage of working in the emerging and emerged far east.
Language skills can and do give an economic edge, and while I and other Bangla/Sylheti speakers value the Bengali language as something beautiful and important on a personal level, it serves zero purpose in an increasingly competitive market place.
If parents wish to support their children develop language skills then that is an investment they can make through independent language classes.
I will be raising my children learning Bangla at home, English at school and pay for them to learn Spanish and Italian (the latter being a personal favourite of mine for no other reason other than it is beautiful).
I realise I have given a personal account above, so will leave you/readers of this blog with a couple of questions and a final thought: if Bangla was taught in Tower Hamlets schools, who would these children be using it to communicate with? With their (predominantly) Sylheti parents? And would teaching Bangla to children who speak Sylheti at home be confusing?
My final thought is, children in London as a whole need to learn to learn to write and speak English with not just a good command but with confidence, a diverse vocabulary, and with clarity. This is where primary schools need to concentrate their efforts.
East London has a proud tradition of welcoming all races and religions from around the world, and rightly so – unfortunately most of our multicultural history is being eradicated on a daily basis. How many Jewish Synagogues currently left in LBTH – 4! LBTH had a big and vibrant Chinese community – where’s their heritage – I can’t see any areas’ named after them? I went to school and was brought up with the first black families in this area – and we always lived amongst a large black community – where is their legacy here? All this plus the knocking down of Bonner school, and the ultimately failed, planned demolition of Bancroft Road Library, the renaming of Brick Lane and all the pubs turned into flats. Brick by brick, memory by memory it is going. No wonder poor old Tom Ridge – who must be a fascist in your eyes, as he is fighting had to keep the local history alive – always has a fight on his hands!
I understand society is transitional, but some parts of society are more transitional than others – the LBTH I (and many others) want to live in is deliberately being steered and morphing into something that is mono-cultural. It’s one way or the highway – and that’s not right. I oppose that and would oppose it if if was any far-right/far-left organisation.
You are quick to tar anyone who opposes change with “False-Islamaphobia.” If you really believe that Islam is a gay-friendly region because you have a few marches and talk to a few high-ranking people you must be living in fantasy land. I’d really would like to see you organise a widely publicised ( East End Life anyone?) visit by a LG&TG/TV to the Whitechapel mosque with a view to discussing gay rights in Islamic countries? Do you really think you’d be welcome with open arms? You are delusional if you do. FYI as per the LGBT: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_rights_in_Bangladesh
“LGBT human rights are not respected in Bangladesh, and there appears to be no organized movement to advance such human rights. And such acts of homosexuality will lead to life in prison, or even face the death penalty.”
I’m no fascist or EDL sympathiser or conspiracy-loon as you paint me and I’ve made it clear I believe everyone is equal – which you conveniently keep overlooking. You ,however, are an apologist for a left wing-loony ideologist who has the foolish notion that a dominant community, that is deeply seeped in and that has a history of, anti women, anti-gay and undemocratic practices won’t try and make any deep, profound and community-dividing changes in a community it largely controls – i.e. LBTH.
Again, if this was the some other organisation proposing these kinds of ideologies, you’d be opposing them straight away. A rose is a rose is a rose. Undemocratic is undemocratic. Anti-gay is Anti-gay – you can dress it up any way you like, but it is what it is.
Your rant clearly demonstrates how very little you know about this borough and it’s history. A trip down to Bancroft library might do you some good. Have you stopped to ask yourself why there are so few Jewish synagogues left? Might it to do with a shrinking congregation due to an ageing population and much of the Jewish community moving out further East many years ago as they prospered, in fact many Bangladeshi families are moving out to places such as Barking and Redbridge as they become more aspirational and financially wealthier, such is the history of this borough. Did you know that the original China town was in Limehouse and do you know why it moved to the West End?
Your attempts to masquerade yourself as someone who respects all is feeble at most, in fact a well known local by the name of Terry Fitzpatrick similarly championed himself as such, but has recently been convicted by the courts as a racist. Maybe your skewed views of all Bengalis and Muslims are fueled by drunken bouts?
Why did China town move to the westend?
The right wing press depicted the Chinese community in Limehouse as a moral danger to this country, the ‘yellow peril.’
http://eastlondonhistory.com/the-end-of-chinatown-in-limehouse/
Fast forward to the 21st Century and now Muslims are a threat to British society. So how was the Chinese community dealt with? Their community was razed to the ground under the guise of clearing ‘slum’ dwellings.
http://www.timeout.com/london/big-smoke/features/3604/Secret_London-Old_Chinatown_E14.html
And by the way, Tom Ridge is a top bloke!