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Brexit Could Devastate Celtic Languages

The European Language Equality Network (ELEN), with its Welsh, Scottish, Irish, and Cornish member organizations, has issued a warning about the “potentially disastrous effect of Brexit on the Celtic languages.”

According to the statement, “Brexit will have a profoundly negative effect for all of the Celtic languages spoken in the UK. These language communities in Wales, Scotland, the north of Ireland, and Cornwall are faced not only with losing direct funding via programs such as Erasmus+, Creative Europe, and Horizon 2020, but also significant structural funds such as the Social Fund, Interreg, Growth, LEADER, and EAFRD, all of which have created sustainable employment for Celtic-language speakers in sectors such as agriculture, fishing, tourism, and higher education. Outside the Common Agricultural Policy, agriculture and the rural economy will face huge challenges—and these are extremely important sectors where Celtic-language speakers live and work.”

ELEN, which works to protect and promote 45 European minoritized languages with 150 member organizations in 23 regions, fears that support for the Celtic languages, most of which are defined as endangered and need support for their revitalization, may dwindle while the UK Parliament decides on whether to accept the government’s draft withdrawal agreement or decides on no deal or to remain in the European Union.

The UK’s devolved governments have, for the most part, been strong supporters of the Celtic languages, linguistic diversity, and shared cultural heritage.

The UK government has said that existing funding will be guaranteed only until 2020. In addition, with a no-deal Brexit, there will be the huge loss of access to the European markets, with the potential of trade tariffs and border controls, which will affect all economic sectors.

“Welsh will be particularly badly affected, as so much of rural and urban Wales receives EU funding. For example, under WTO rules, lamb exports will be taxed by an extra 40%, meaning that Welsh hill farmers’ livelihoods will be severely affected, and considering that most of these farmers live their lives through the medium of Welsh and that they underpin the fabric of rural Welsh-speaking society,” claims ELEN.

In the north of Ireland, cross-border funding programs are used to support Irish-language projects, so ELEN is asking that governments “help the Irish language community to ensure that language planning and development continues on an all-Ireland basis, help ensure that any potential new border rules have no impact on Irish language funding, planning, and development, and uphold the Good Friday Agreement which underpins the peace process.”

In Scotland, Gaelic has benefited from a wide range of direct and indirect European funding, the loss of which could severely hinder preservation of the language. Cornwall has also been receiving European “convergence” funding, which supports the local language, culture, and infrastructure projects.

Giving Tuesday for Translators Without Borders

Giving Tuesday is here, and we suggest donating to Translators Without Borders. The holiday, which was created in 2012 to be celebrated the first Tuesday after Thanksgiving, aims to inspire people all over the globe to donate to organizations that make a difference. Show the world that you’re passionate about language, and all the ways it fuels our lives, loves, and livelihoods. 

Translator’s Without Borders’ goal today is to raise $15,000 – 10% of their $150,000 holiday fundraising goal. These funds will be used to respond rapidly in times of crisis and provide on-going language support where it is needed most.

Donate to Translators Without Borders Here

And today your donation could go even further — starting at 8am Eastern US Time / 2pm Central European Time, Facebook will double donations made via its platform. So, contribute to our ongoing Facebook fundraiser, or start your own #GivingTuesday fundraiser to motivate your friends and family. 

People who speak marginalized languages need your help today to be able to access critical information they understand, and to make their voices heard. 

Voter Registration Campaign Poder 2020 launches

Poder Latinx, a civic and social justice organization working to build political empowerment in the Latinx community, announced today an initiative called Poder 2020, a voter registration campaign targeting 18-35 year-old Latinx voters.

At a press conference in Washington, Poder Latinx unveiled the first three TV and web ads, which began running in November, and are designed to reach young Latinx voters and motivate them to register and vote. (Sample ads: English, Spanish)

The Poder 2020 campaign also launched a bilingual website – Poder2020.com – where Latinx citizens can register to vote.

“Our goal is to reach a half a million viewers,” said Poder Latinx Co-Executive Director Esteban Garces. “The ads will be posted on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube and will target young Latinx voters in Arizona, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Texas. We launched the campaign on-air last week buying TV spots in the Washington, DC area.”

Poder Latinx Co-Executive Director Yadira Sanchez added: “With so much at stake in the 2020 elections, Latinx voter registration must begin immediately. We have to grow the electorate, increase Latinx participation in the caucuses and primaries, and inspire our community to elect the next president. We are reaching out to young Latinxs who will turn 18 years of age before election day, or are eligible but who have not registered yet,”

“In the 2018 midterm elections, 11.7 million Latinx citizens voted, up from 6.8 million in 2014,” said Poder Latinx Senior Advisor Ben Monterosso. “The 2020 election will mark the first time in history that Latinx voters are the largest racial or ethnic group in the electorate so the potential for Latinx political participation is incredible, considering there are an estimated 15 to 18 million Latinx citizens who are eligible to vote but have not done so. Latinx voters will have an outsized impact on the general election and also live in states that have early primaries or are key battleground states.”

The Poder 2020 campaign is a partnership, led by Poder Latinx, with creative direction from MAS Consulting and research and message development from Latino Decisions. Additional partners include America’s Voice, Phone2Action and the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC).

“All across our country, Latinx voters sense this is truly our moment. This is it. We are here, today not mañana, and what we do with this opportunity is totally in our hands to confront voter suppression, organize and mobilize and to have our voices heard in the most powerful way possible in a democracy, our vote,” stated Sindy Benavides, LULAC’s CEO. “LULAC shall lead, as it has always lead, arm in arm with others determined to reclaim right from wrong, speak out where we have been silent, go forward where we have been told go back. This is our challenge and we are ready to assume it with a clear conviction and determination of ensuring that our vote makes the difference in 2020.”

“The most effective and important step Americans can take to improving policies related to Latino, immigrants and the communities in which they live will be by demonstrating the power of those communities at the ballot box,” said Frank Sharry, Executive Director of America’s Voice, a pro-immigrant advocacy group that is partnering with Poder Latinx on the Poder 2020 campaign who spoke at the press conference. “We cannot win good policies from the White House and Congress unless those most affected by those policies are encouraged to vote. We salute the leadership of the Poder 2020 campaign and are honored to be a partner,” continued Sharry.

“A critical strategy to increase Latinx voter turnout in this upcoming presidential election is to close the registration gap,” said Ximena Hartsock, Founder of Phone2Action. “Thus we are thrilled to partner with Poder Latinx to make Phone2Action voter registration tools available to our community. We created Phone2Action to unleash the power of every individual and I can’t think of a more crucial time to empower the Latinx community than now to make a difference in this election.”

America’s Languages Caucus is Born

Rep. Price looking through binoculars at a military post.
Rep. Price looking ahead to a multilingual America

On November 12, the offices of Congressmen David E. Price (D-North Carolina 04) and Don Young (R-All Alaskans) announced the establishment of the Congressional Caucus on America’s Languages.
The mission of the America’s Languages Caucus is to set forth a national strategy to raise awareness about the importance of world language learning and international education, particularly as it relates to the nation’s economic and national security; ensure adequate resources are directed toward the study of world language learning; and focus on improving access for students and educators who wish to participate in these fields of study, including world languages, Native American languages, and English for English learners.
The decision to launch a new America’s Languages Caucus resulted from a 2017 American Academy of Arts and Sciences Commission on Language Learning report, America’s Languages: Investing in Language Education for the 21st Century, which makes clear that the U.S. needs significantly more bilingual and biliterate citizens to help ensure national security, promote economic and job growth, and develop the potential of every U.S. student.
Bill Rivers, executive director of the Joint National Committee for Languages (JNCL), which has been instrumental in the establishment of the caucus, sees it as a major milestone for the recognition of the importance of language education in the U.S., especially since it is a proactive move, unlike previous government language initiatives which have invariably been in reaction to major events like Sputnik and 9/11. “The establishment of the America’s Languages Caucus demonstrates visionary leadership by Representatives Price and Young, as they continue to champion congressional efforts to support the learning of all America’s languages,” said Rivers.
“It’s alarming that U.S. students are falling behind their international peers in language competency and international education,” said Congressman Price, co-chair of the newly formed America’s Languages Caucus. “Congressman Don Young and I joined together to start the bipartisan America’s Languages Caucus to bring attention to this issue and help foster change by expanding access to language education at all levels to help bolster national security, promote economic growth, and improve our nation’s cultural competency.”
“We should be doing all we can to ensure that America’s students are equipped with the language skills necessary to navigate civic and professional life,” said Congressman Young, co-chair of the caucus. “Preparedness in world languages is also an important component of our national security, and our nation must keep pace with the language programs being implemented by countries across the globe. Therefore, today I am proud to formally announce the creation of the Congressional Caucus on America’s Languages. This caucus will be critical to engaging educators, business leaders, and other stakeholders to help craft policy solutions that help expand world language preparation in our country. It is my great honor to serve as co-chair with Congressman David Price, and I look forward to the work ahead.”
The mission of the America’s Languages Caucus is to set forth a national strategy to raise awareness about the importance of world language learning and international education, particularly as it relates to the nation’s economic and national security; ensure adequate resources are directed toward the study of world language learning; and focus on improving access for students and educators who wish to participate in these fields of study, including world languages, Native American languages, and English for English learners.
“We are delighted that Congressmen Price and Young have taken this critical step for education,” said David Oxtoby, president of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. “As our America’s Languages report makes clear, we need a national strategy for building our capacity in languages other than English, and the creation of this caucus is a very important start.”
“NABE applauds the launch of America’s Languages Caucus as a way to promote pro-multilingual policies, programs, research, pedagogy and high-quality professional development opportunities,” commented Santiago Wood, executive director, National Association for Bilingual Education (NABE). “We need adequate funding for dual language programs serving Multilingual/Dual Language Learners, teachers, parents and communities, while also keeping the rights of English Learners clearly in focus as states and communities move forward with sustainable education reforms. As of Monday, November 25, the caucus counts among its ranks the following members:
David E. Price, D-North Carolina 04
Don Young , R-All Alaskans
Jimmy Panetta, D-California 20
Gilbert R. Cisneros, Jr., D-California 39
Ben Ray Luján, D-New Mexico 03
Donald S. Beyer, Jr., D-Virginia 08
Jim Cooper, D-Tennessee 05
Peter DeFazio, D-Oregon 04
Ben McAdams, D-Utah 04
The co-sponsors of the caucus, Congressmen Price and Young, have agreed to accept the proposal of JNCL-NCLIS to maintain the caucus website, https://www.languagepolicy.org/americaslanguages.

U.S. News & World Report Ranks Schools with the Best Study Abroad Programs

U.S. News & World Report has released a list ranking the nation’s top collegiate study abroad programs. Rankings are based on nominations from college presidents, chief academic officers, deans of students, and deans of admissions at more than 1,500 institutions. School officials also nominated colleges and universities in seven other categories: first-year experiences, co-ops/internships, learning communities, senior capstone, service learning, undergraduate research/creative projects, and writing in the disciplines. To mark the end of International Education Week, here are the colleges and universities with the 10 best study abroad programs:

10. Agnes Scott College Decatur, GA

9. Michigan State University East Lansing, MI

8. Dickinson College Carlisle, PA

7. American University Washington, DC

6. Middlebury College Middlebury, VT

5. Goucher College Baltimore, MD

4. New York University New York, NY

3. Kalamazoo College Kalamazoo, MI

2. Arcadia University Glenside, PA

  1. Elon University Elon, NC

For more details, visit https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/study-abroad-programs.

Spanish on the rise in the United Kingdom

Despite Brexit raising concerns about isolation and lack of interest in other cultures, Spanish is becoming more popular in Britain and it could soon be the most studied foreign language at school level if current trends continue.

The popularity of foreign languages in British schools has been decreasing since 2004 after the government’s decision to remove the subject from the compulsory curriculum at Key Stage 4, when students follow courses that lead to national qualifications such as GCSE (General Certificate of Secondary Education). According to a recent study by the British Council, ‘Language Trends 2019’, a survey-based report that includes more than 1,600 primary and secondary school teachers across England, entries for GCSE languages have seen a decline of 19% over the past five years. However, whereas numbers for French and German have dropped by 30% each, the reduction for Spanish is just 2% showing that it has more stability than the other two languages at that stage of the education system. At A-Level, a main school leaving qualification in Britain, the situation of Spanish is even more promising as while French and German have been steadily declining since the mid-90’s, entries for Spanish have been increasing almost every year. The report anticipates a rise of 10% for the 2019 intake.

Traditionally, French and German were the languages taught at schools and universities across the UK, but Spanish has been growing its importance over the past 20 years and, based on the above trends, it is expected to overtake French as the most popular foreign language in British schools both at GCSE and A-Level. Back in 2004, it had already overtaken German as the second most studied language in Britain. At university level, Spanish is also the pupils’ favourite language, the British Council has found based on a survey carried out in 2016 and included in the ‘Languages for the Future report’ (2017 edition). It is taught by 70 universities at degree level across the UK and, according to the report, it has had ‘fewer departmental closures than other languages’. This study has produced a table of the ten most important languages for the UK where Spanish ranks first and it is followed by Mandarin, French, Arabic and German as the top 5.

In the same light, a 2018 report by the Cervantes Institute, El español: una lengua viva. Informe 2018, highlights that Spanish is seen as the most important language for the future in the UK, even after Brexit. As mentioned above, the withdrawal from the EU and its potential implications in terms of indifference to other European cultures does not seem to be affecting the rise of the Spanish language across Britain. Francisco Oda, head of the Cervantes Institute in Manchester said to the Spanish newspaper El País last July that despite initial concerns that Brexit would bring a decline in the number of enrolments at their centres, “they have oddly increased”.

The Cervantes Institute report states that in the two main English-speaking countries, i.e. the UK and the US, the interest to learn Spanish is particularly high and that Spanish is considered to be the most important foreign language in both countries.

SOURCES

Language Trends 2019. Language teaching in primary and secondary schools in England. Survey report. British Council.

El español: una lengua viva. Informe 2018. Instituto Cervantes.

Languages for the future (2017 edition). British Council.

‘Why Spanish is fast becoming Britain’s favourite foreign language.’ El País 15/07/2019

Spanish in the World

Last month, the Instituto Cervantes launched its yearbook, Spanish in the World 2019, with the latest data showing that a total of 580 million people speak Spanish (7.6% of the world’s population). Of these, 483 million are native Spanish speakers, which makes Spanish the second mother tongue in the world by number of speakers. In addition, it is studied by almost 22 million people in 110 countries. Spanish is the third-most-used language on the internet, where it has great growth potential.

The launch was hosted by Cervantes director Luis García Montero, who said that “teaching a language is much more than teaching a vocabulary; it is sharing values and showing a culture of open identities and democratic values.” For Montero, disseminating Spanish and its culture helps to counteract global problems such as “intolerance, supremacy, or identity chimeras that consider diversity a threat.”

The Madrid launch was followed by one in New York and another in Los Angeles (see p. 10.), demonstrating the Institute’s focus on the U.S., to which Montero added, “we want to stand by Hispanics in the U.S. against the politics of contempt and ‘English only.'”
Closing the Madrid launch, the acting deputy prime minister of Spain, Carmen Calvo, ignored the figures to focus on the importance of language, noting that she regretted that words sometimes lose their purpose—that is, to facilitate communication and understanding—and that they can be used as “weapons of destruction.” She denounced the perceived decrease in the capacity for dialogue and listening as well as “impoverishment of the lexicon,” arguing that faced with the “banal use of words,” social networks “do not help,” because anything can be said irresponsibly and without waiting for more response than a “like.”

During his speech, Richard Bueno, director of Cervantes New York, emphasized that Spanish has two complementary aspects—unity and diversity. He warned not to be complacent about the rising number of Spanish speakers and provided three tips: teach Spanish to speakers of other languages, educate Spanish speakers about the traction force of Spanish, and educate leaders about language’s role in getting people to work together or “row together in the same direction.”

The report contains four sections:
I. SPANISH IN THE WORLD 2019
 The first section, “Spanish: A Living Language,” highlights the following data:

  • Almost 483 million (2018: 480 million) people speak Spanish as their mother tongue.
  • The number of potential Spanish users exceeds 580 million, including native, limited competence, and foreign language students. Last year it was 577 million.
  • Spanish is the second mother tongue in the world by number of speakers, only behind Mandarin Chinese.
  • It is the third language in the global computation of speakers (native domain + limited proficiency + Spanish students), after English and Chinese.
  • For demographic reasons, the percentage of the world’s population that speaks Spanish as a native language is increasing, while the proportion of Chinese, English, and French speakers is decreasing.
  • Now, 7.6% of the world population speaks Spanish (7.7% predicted in 2050).
  • The U.S. will, in 2060, be the second Spanish-speaking country in the world after Mexico: almost one in three Americans will be Hispanic.

Study of Spanish as a Foreign Language

  • 21,882,448 students are formally studying Spanish as a foreign language (67,000 more than last year).
  • In the U.S., Spanish is the most studied language at all levels of education.
  • The teaching of Spanish in English-speaking countries such as Canada (with 90,000 students), Ireland (47,000), Australia (34,000), and New Zealand (36,000) has also grown significantly.
  • The contribution of all Spanish-speaking countries to global GDP is 6.9%.
  • Spanish is the fourth-most-powerful economic language in the world, slightly behind French and Chinese and further behind English.

Spanish on the Internet

  • It is the third-most-used language on the internet, after English and Chinese.
  • 8.1% of internet communication occurs in Spanish.
  • It is the second-most-used language on Wikipedia, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Of the 580 million users of the LinkedIn social network, 55 million use Spanish to a greater or lesser extent. Most of them are in Central and South America.
  • Spanish has a high potential for growth on the internet due to the average internet penetration in Spanish-speaking countries (which at 65.8% is still far below penetration in Spain, at 92%).
  • Mexico is among the ten countries with the highest number of users on the internet.
  • After English, Spanish is the language with the second-most scientific documents published in it.
  • Spain is the third-largest exporter of books in the world, after the UK and the U.S.

II. THE FUTURE OF THE SPANISH LANGUAGE IN THE WORLD
The second section of the 2019 yearbook contains ten articles that dissect the future of the language over almost 230 pages.

III. THE INTERNATIONAL EVOLUTION OF SPANISH AND ITS CULTURE
The third section addresses the evolution of Spanish and its culture in Australia, Indonesia, South Korea, Israel, Egypt, Italy, and Portugal. This section was launched in 2018 with the intention to map geographically and thematically, year after year, the international presence of the Hispanic language and its cultures.

IV. CERVANTES INSTITUTE REPORTS
Reports from the Cervantes Institute end the book, with the article that updates and presents in detail all the information regarding Cervantes Institutes around the world. The Madrid launch was attended by the filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar, one of the most enthusiastic ambassadors for Spanish culture abroad.

The challenges of minority languages: 1 in 4 children cannot speak Galician in Galicia Spain

Galician is a Romance language spoken in Galicia, a region in the northwestern corner of Spain. It is the official language of the region, along with Spanish, and it has around 2.5 million speakers. It is used in the media, public life and the education system, where Galician language and literature are included in the compulsory curriculum at primary and secondary school. Galician Studies are also offered at degree level by the three Galician universities (Santiago, Vigo and A Coruña).

Last September, a report published by the Galician Statistical Institute showed that there has been a decline in the use of the Galician language by the new generations. The report is based on the outcome of a survey addressed to Galician households in order to gather information about different aspects of their socio-economic situation and all the data provided refers to the year 2018. Asked about their ability to speak Galician, 57.59% of people over five years old reported that they had a good command of the language, 30.46% said that they had a fair command and, finally, 11.95% answered that they had limited or no command of Galician. But, figures vary significantly according to age as 23.90% of the population under 15 claimed to have limited or no command of Galician whereas for population aged 65 and over that percentage goes down to 8.84%.  As can be seen, the amount of children who cannot speak much Galician (23.90%) doubles that of the whole population (11.95%) suggesting that Galician is ageing by being more popular among the older generations.

Looking back at a similar study carried out in 2008, the percentage of people under 15 who reported to have little or no knowledge of Galician was 16.36%, so there has been a clear setback in the last decade, which is also shown by the number of people who use Galician on a daily basis. According to the 2018 report, 30.57% of the population always speak Galician in their day-to-day life, a slightly higher figure than 2008 (30.29%), although lower than 2013 (31.20%). Similarly, the percentage of people who always speak Spanish (24.40%) has also declined compared to 2013 (26.25%), but it is higher than 2008 (20.28%). But, once again, people behave differently according to their age. Among people aged 65 and over, 48.48% always speak Galician and 29.91% speak more Galician than Spanish while only 13.65% says that they always speak Spanish and 12.96%  more Spanish than Galician. On the opposite side, most people aged 5-14 only speak Spanish (44.13%) or more Spanish than Galician (29.75%) whereas the percentage of people within that age who always speak Galician (14.27%) or more Galician than Spanish (11.85%) is considerably low. The number of children under 15 who claimed to always speak Spanish a decade ago was 29.59%, so the current data confirms the trend of young people progressively abandoning the use of the minority language in favour of Spanish.

Regarding the written language, the situation of Galician is much worse as only 16.64% of the population reported that they used Galician for writing on a regular basis. Among people who always speak Galician, only 36.19% use the same language for writing on their day-to-day life whereas 63.31% use Spanish.

SOURCES

‘Enquisa estrutural a fogares. Coñecemento e uso de galego’ Resumo de resultados 27/09/2019. IGE (Instituto Galego de Estadística).

LOIA. Open guide to Galician Language. Consello da Cultura Galega.

Supreme Court to Decide Future of 750,000 Young People

Tomorrow, November 12, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments for three cases that will decide the future of about 750,000 young beneficiaries of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. Since the program was established in 2012, DACA has allowed young immigrants brought to the U.S. without documents to live, study, work, and contribute to the country they call home.

In 2012, the Obama administration established a program through a DHS memorandum known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), which allows undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. as children to apply for protection from removal through an exercise of prosecutorial discretion. Applicants who met a variety of criteria, such as graduating from high school or serving in the military, could pay a fee of nearly $500 and receive a deferral on removal proceedings, authorization to work, and when otherwise permitted, access to health insurance and driver’s licenses. In the past seven years, DACA has enabled at least 700,000 eligible young adults to work lawfully, attend school, and plan their lives without the constant threat of removal. It has also ensured that 256,000 U.S. citizen children of DACA recipients are able to grow up with their parents. 

In September 2017, the Trump administration announced that it would end the DACA program. In response, DACA recipients, states, and other stakeholders filed lawsuits challenging the announcement, and requesting an injunction to prevent the termination of DACA as the litigation proceeded through the courts. Three nationwide injunctions issued by U.S. district court in California, New York, and the District of Columbia—have allowed people who previously had DACA to renew their deferred action. However, no new first-time applications have been considered or granted since the attempted termination.

In June 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear oral arguments in McAleenan v. Batalla Vidal, Department of Homeland Security v. Regents of the University of California, and Trump v. NAACP. The challengers in all three of the cases argue that the termination of the DACA program violated the Administrative Procedure Act and the rights of DACA recipients. The deputy solicitor general of California, Michael Mongan, and Supreme Court advocate Ted Olson, solicitor general of the United States under the George W. Bush Administration, will argue on behalf of a number of individual DACA recipients and the other plaintiffs in these cases, including the regents of the University of California, Microsoft, Princeton University, and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

A bipartisan group of 152 current and former Members of Congress filed an amicus brief in support of DACA. More than 140 of the nation’s top businesses and trade associations, collectively representing nearly every sector of the United States economy, also submitted an amicus brief in support of DACA. 21 states and the District of Columbia, where more than half of DACA recipients reside, filed briefs as well as 109 cities and local governments. Other groups that have filed amicus briefs include educators, university officials, former national security officials, civil rights leaders and DACA recipients.

Pediatricians, children’s advocates, and parents across the nation are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to consider the fact that their decision will affect nearly 250,000 U.S. citizen children when reviewing the administration’s intention to close the program and their parents lose this vital family protection.

They filed an amicus brief (appendix here) with the U.S. Supreme Court that details the harm that rescinding DACA would have on young children. The brief explains that society has a moral imperative to protect children from harm and promote family unity.

Legal experts are predicting that one of the following three decisions is the most likely:

The Supreme Court finds that it does not have jurisdiction to hear the case because the decision to rescind DACA fell squarely within the discretion of the administration by law. If the Court makes this finding, it would likely grant the administration’s motion to dismiss and the DACA rescission would go into effect.

The Supreme Court finds that it does have jurisdiction to hear the case and decides that the Trump Administration’s notice of rescission was unlawful. In this situation the 2012 DACA memo would be in effect, and those already granted DACA status could continue to file renewals, and those who qualify now could file new applications.

The Supreme Court finds that it does have jurisdiction to hear the case and decides that the Trump Administration’s termination of DACA was lawful. In this scenario, the underlying reasons for the court’s decision could affect the timeline for how the DACA program is terminated or scaled back.

A decision is expected no later than June 2020. 

Nigeria Requires Igbo

Imo State, one of the five states located in the South-Eastern region of Nigeria, has made Igbo language, the state’s vernacular, compulsory in all the schools in the state. This language will be studied alongside the English language, which is also a compulsory subject in every school in the country.

 This was disclosed by Prof. Viola Onwuliri, the State Commissioner for Education, at the matriculation ceremony of the state’s College of Nursing and Midwifery, Orlu, held on 30th October, 2019.

According to the commissioner, who was represented by Basil Iwu, the state’s Director of Tertiary Education, the learning and teaching of Igbo would be compulsory for all students attending primary, secondary and tertiary institutions within the state.

She said, “We have resolved to make the Igbo language a compulsory subject in schools in Imo State. We believe our children need to know their roots and we can encourage that by teaching them our language, which is our heritage, in schools.”

The commissioner implored, “Parents and guardians should equally teach their children and wards Igbo language at home.” She also urged the provost of the College of Nursing and Midwifery, Orlu, to ensure that Igbo language was made a compulsory language at the school.

Prior to this disclosure by the Commissioner for Education, the Deputy Governor of Imo State, Hon. Gerald Irona, hinted that the state was about to send to the State Assembly, a bill that will make Igbo language a compulsory subject at all the schools located within the state.

Hon. Gerald Irona disclosed this while receiving a civil society organisation known as Green Pathway Initiative in his office.

According him, the need to pass and implement this Bill arose because of the decline in the use of Igbo language, which could consequently lead to the loss of the culture of the Igbo ethnic group.

The deputy governor, who addressed the gathering in Igbo language, said, “Every tribe has an identity. One of the identities of a people is their language. It is unfortunate that a lot of our children neither speak nor understand Igbo language.” He, however, assured them that the incumbent administration will do the needful to remedy the situation.

As it is now, every student attending any of the schools located in Imo State of Nigeria, irrespective of his or her tribe and race, must study and pass Igbo language as a subject.

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