Zane Jackson | 1st March 2010

AN INDIGENOUS Ipswich educator has backed calls for Aboriginal languages to be taught in primary schools and protected for future generations.

St Peter Claver College’s indigenous education liaison officer Kargun Fogarty said teaching the traditional language would benefit students, whether they were indigenous or not.

His comments came after Dr Dale Kerwin, a research fellow from the Griffith Institute for Educational Research, suggested the languages should be taught in school and protected by law.

Mr Fogarty said from his experience at St Peter Claver College, he believed such a move would empower indigenous students and help other students to understand the culture.

“For a lot of our mob, there is the real danger that the language will be lost to the generations to come,” Mr Fogarty said.

“It’s something we should work hard to keep, because the language is part of our identity and a major part of our culture.

“Apart from the educational benefits of learning a second language in general, it gives the Aboriginal kids some pride in their culture.”

He said while he would like to see indigenous languages taught in schools, he said it would take a few years at least until such a plan could be implemented.

“Already there’s probably not enough people in my generation who know the language – if we could educate them to learn and teach the language, that would be the best start,” he said.

“There’s also the issue that different areas have difference languages. You would just have to make sure the right language is taught for the right region.”

Dr Kerwin said Australia should follow the example of Scotland, who created laws to protect their native Gaelic language in 2002.

Education Queensland could not respond to questions about Aboriginal language studies before publication.

http://www.qt.com.au/story/2010/03/01/language-backed/