This area will be bottom of the school league tables again if cuts in language support for Asian children go ahead, it is claimed.

That is the prediction of Keighley Racial Equality Officer Zafar Ali. He and other Asian community representatives have joined a district-wide protest about council plans to reduce 'Section 11' funding by £400,000 during the coming financial year.

The council is cutting back in the expectation that the government will reduce its matching share of the special budget.

In order to balance the education books the council is also saving £250,000 by reorganising community language teaching, £400,000 through efficiency savings in the school meals service and £376,000 from the continued suspension of some student grants and maintenance allowances.

Mr Ali says over the years OFSTED inspectors have praised the effects of support assistance in the classroom, home liaison and specialist language teaching for children from ethnic minorities. He says: "I think it is vital that this support stays intact. If it is taken away children from ethnic minorities will suffer enormously in terms of language."

Mr Ali says OFSTED inspectors say children benefit from language support. "This is not a special privilege," he says.

Keighley schools affected by the cuts include Highfield middle, Eastwood and Parkwood first and Greenhead Grammar School. Mr Ali says children for whom English is a second language need support to help them compete in education and later in the jobs market.

Members of Keighley's Asian community are being asked to sign a petition of objection to the cuts. "We are asking the local authority to look again," says Mr Ali. "

Council education chief Jim Flood says Bradford is in a similar position to other local authorities. "These measures are the fairest and most effective we could have devised in the circumstances," he says.

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