Northern Metropolitan Region
Evan MULHOLLAND (Northern Metropolitan) (12:49): (404) My question is to the Minister for Education. Last week I had the pleasure of catching up with Abdirizak Mohamed, who is the leader of Somali Voice Victoria. Somali Voice is an organisation that advocates for the many thousands of Somalis living in Melbourne, many in my electorate. I recognise Abdi for his leadership of the organisation doing important work. Like many of us, Somali Victorians want to pass on their culture and language to their children. It begs the question why Somali is not a language recognised in the Victorian curriculum. So many community-based schools are able to teach their own language to their local communities, so my question to the minister is: does the Department of Education have any active plans and considerations to introduce Somali into the curriculum, and if not, why not?