A campaign is underway for Romanian to become a GCSE option in British schools.
With an estimated 1.5 million Romanians living in UK, campaigners argue census data supports their request to allow teenage students to study the language as one of their exam options, the BBC reported Monday.
In the 2021 census, Londoners were asked what their “main” language was. After English, the next most-listed language was Romanian with 159,000 speakers, the report said.
The campaign has been launched by British historian Dr Tessa Dunlop, who has a specialist interest in Romania and supported by Harrow West’s Labour MP, Gareth Thomas.
The Department for Education told the BBC; “It is for exam boards to decide which languages to offer at GCSE,” and added that it was introducing a “stepped qualification in languages” within the primary curriculum.
“If we can deliver this GCSE, that is really something that Britain can really take pride of – a way of owning our status as a welcoming space for migrants we have invited in, and a way of celebrating the wonderful diversity in this country,” Dunlop told the BBC:
She has two children who learn Romanian at home, Mara, 17, and in the year after GCSEs. She says that Romanian should be offered along with other GCSE options such as Polish.
“This represents an entire unsung generation of children who cannot communicate with their culture,” she told the BBC.
Romanian, Adi Lapadatescu, who came to London 15 years ago, told the BBC: “A GCSE is important to me and my children and for our culture, and it will be a big step for validating us and saying ‘we are here'”.
“Many Romanian families would welcome the chance for their children to supplement their school exams with a GCSE and/or A-level in Romanian,” the MP said.
