Dumfries and Galloway is to continue its resistance to the national policy of ensuring that all pupils study a foreign language in the third and fourth year of secondary school.
An education subcommittee, presented with the option of insisting on a language from 1997 or 1998, has decided to wait two years. The Government wanted the change to be complete by 1992.
Councillors were told that only two of 16 secondaries require pupils to continue with a language after S2. Elsewhere uptake varies from 30 per cent to 76 per cent.
The Inspectorate had “reported adversely” on the absence of a language in its reports on the council’s schools, but a change in policy would represent “a major shift with inescapable resource implications”. The estimated cost is about Pounds 200,000.