Correspondents received from Department of Education on 10th May, 2017

Dear Supporters, Thanks for your support. Below, please find a copy of the email received from the Department of Education and Skills on 10th May, 2017 (an year after this petition). The "Foreign Languages Strategy" was due to release at the end of last year yet it is still not available. Let's not only hope the minister will keep his promises, but also to plan a smart strategy. Thank you. Evan Furlong Dear Mr. Furlong, The Minister for Education and Skills Richard Bruton TD has asked me to respond to your further e-mail in relation to the inclusion of Mandarin Chinese in the Leaving Certificate curriculum. The Minister recently announced that the Department of Education and Skills’ Foreign Languages Strategy will be published shortly. Among the measures contained in the Strategy is the introduction of Mandarin Chinese as a Leaving Certificate curricular subject. Together with other measures, this will mean that all of our main target languages in our export strategies will now be provided as curricular leaving cert subjects As part of the new Framework for Junior Cycle, schools can decide currently to include a short course in Chinese Language and Culture, prepared by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment, in their junior cycle programme: http://www.curriculumonline.ie/Junior-cycle/Short-Courses/Chinese. I hope that this information is of assistance. Yours sincerely, Derek Newcombe Private Secretary