The Learning and Skills Council’s statement of priorities for the year ahead demonstrates a victory for bureaucratic tidiness at the expense of meeting real needs when it comes to English tuition.
The report makes the statement that in providing English for speakers of other languages public funding “should be directed towards those with the greatest need for support.”
Just two paragraphs later the report states that the right to free Esol training will be withdrawn from asylum seekers aged 19 and over, while free provisions will be kept for 16 to 18-year-olds. Asylum seekers, irrespective of age, are greatly in need of support.
Roudy Shafie
Hammersmith and Fulham Refugee Forum
London SW6
