Scottish Gaelic and the 150th Anniversary of the Education (Scotland) Act 1872

That the Parliament notes that 2022 marks 150 years since the Education (Scotland) Act was passed, in 1872; understands that the Act, passed by the UK Parliament, made elementary education for all children between the ages of five and 13 mandatory in Scotland with what it believes were widespread benefits; understands, however, that at the time, the Act was criticised for failing to safeguard the tradition of parish schools in Scotland or provide for secondary education; believes that the Act remains controversial to date due to the reported harm caused by the Act to the Scottish Gaelic language; condemns the reported routine use of corporal punishment on children caught speaking Gaelic in the classroom, even, it understands, by teachers who were native Gaelic speakers themselves; understands that this practice is purported to have continued in some Scottish schools well into the 1970s; considers that the attitude of many education practitioners and the overall system during this period could be seen to have severely undermined the inter-generational transmission of the language in Gaelic-speaking communities; understands that there have been calls for present day politicians to retrospectively apologise for the harm reportedly done to Scottish Gaelic as a minority language through the 1872 UK Act of Parliament; praises the Gaelic Language (Scotland) Act 2005, passed by the Scottish Parliament, which sought to give Gaelic greater protection and prominence as an official language of Scotland; recognises what it sees as the continued cross-party support in the Scottish Parliament for the Gaelic language; welcomes what it sees as the Scottish Government’s ongoing commitment to the encouragement and regrowth of the Scottish Gaelic language through policies and funding streams; acknowledges the efforts of statutory body Bòrd na Gàidhlig, since its establishment as part of the 2005 Act; praises the work of Gaelic-medium teachers and school staff throughout Scotland working to provide school pupils with high-quality, Gaelic-medium education; acknowledges the role of free, online resources such as Duolingo and SpeakGaelic in helping individuals begin to develop Gaelic language skills, adding to what it sees as the invaluable work of well-established courses and resources, and hopes that the number of fluent Scottish Gaelic speakers will begin to grow again in the years ahead, in the traditional Gaelic-speaking heartlands, as well as in urban communities, and in the digital sphere.