Thursday, 29 May 2025

Language education

Evan MULHOLLAND (Northern Metropolitan) (22:14): (1697) My adjournment is to the Minister for Education, and I seek the action of the minister to consider improving the diversity of languages taught in Victorian schools to better reflect the many languages spoken across our communities. Victoria is well known for its diversity, and my electorate is proudly one of the most diverse parts of our state. But many communities within my electorate and across Victoria are expressing concern over their cultures being unrepresented in our schools. This has been a long-running issue, and it is a matter I have raised several times previously in adjournments, questioning issues surrounding the lack of representation of languages like Punjabi as a language within the Victorian curriculum. According to the ABC, the latest census in 2021 reports that Punjabi is the fastest growing community in Australia, with around 240,000 people speaking the language at home. It is also the fourth most commonly spoken language in Australia. Knowing this, guess how many schools you think offer Punjabi currently? Well, the ABC reports the sad reality is that just two Victorian government schools offer Punjabi as a language for students to learn. Clearly this represents a fundamental problem. It is not just limited to the Punjabi language. Languages such as Turkish, Arabic, Hindi and Vietnamese also lack appropriate representation within our education system and in common use across Victoria.

It is natural to understand that parents want the ability to pass on their language and pass on their culture to their kids. They should rightly have that opportunity when they come to Australia. We want for Australia to be part of their story and for their story to be part of the Australian story, and for that they need to pass on their language as well to their kids to not lose their language and lose their culture once they become an Australian. In many situations children attend the Victorian School of Languages outside of normal school time in order to help improve their understanding of their own language and culture. It begs the question of why some of the most commonly spoken languages in Victoria are not currently taught at Victorian schools. The answer is it should not have to be this way. Instead it should be the case that the Victorian curriculum allows students this choice, especially given how important these languages are to many communities. When I attend countless multicultural events, often the first thing I am asked is the opportunity to speak Punjabi language in the curriculum, the opportunity to teach Hindi language or Turkish language or Somali language in the Victorian curriculum. I seek the action of the education minister to consider reform to help introduce these unrepresented common languages into the Victorian curriculum.