Don’t Teach Aboriginal Kids in Native Languages, Says Territory’s Indigenous Advancement Minister

THE Northern Territory’s Indigenous Advancement Minister says Aboriginal children should not be taught in native languages at school.

In her maiden speech to state parliament yesterday Ms Anderson said the country is “full of kids who speak another language at home, but do well at school”, the Northern Territory News reported.

Ms Anderson condemned bilingual education and said the government also “patronised” young aboriginal students by not telling their parents about their poor results.

“I am not suggesting we abandon our traditional culture or language, but teaching them should not be done in schools,” she said.

“It should be done after school and on weekends and during the holidays. That is when most of the other cultures in Australia teach their children traditional ways.”
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Ms Anderson also said the Northern Territory is “Australia’s own third world” and says aboriginal schools are a “continuing disappointment”.

First Minister Terry Mills said bilingual education is important as indigenous languages are largely a spoken, not written tradition.

“Most of the circumstances where you have people that come from other countries… they are familiar with the written word. But many aboriginal students are not,” he said.

“The objective is to teach English but you have to use the language that they bring into the school in those first two or three years.”