The minister was speaking at the launch of a welcome pack for ethnic minority children and their parents, which has been produced by the Council for Catholic Maintained Schools, CCMS. She said: “In recent years we have seen an increasing diversity in the number of nationalities represented in our schools. I believe this is a great thing which enriches us all. It gives us a valuable opportunity to learn about new cultures and sample new languages.
“I welcome this initiative from CCMS in producing the welcome pack for ethnic minorities. It can be very daunting when you first arrive in a new country and we need to ensure we extend a Céad míle fáilte to all the new arrivals, while providing equality of treatment for all.
“My department has developed a policy for helping children for whom English is an additional language and interpretation and translation services have been set up.
“In addition to helping these children learn English, I believe that we should introduce additional languages to our own children at an earlier age through the revised curriculum. Citizenship education will also be included in the revised curriculum to give children the opportunity to explore issues such as diversity, inclusion and mutual respect using local and global examples.
“We can all benefit from learning a little more about other cultures and I believe the best place to start is in our schools.”
NOTES TO EDITORS:
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