Scores of language teachers have backed a campaign against Bradford education chiefs over planned school closures and cuts to vital services.

More than 60 Section 11 teachers - who provide extra English tuition for Asian children in school - have signed a damning letter in protest at the cuts and the school shake-up review.

Funding for Section 11 is to be slashed by ten per cent, leading to the loss of 20 specialist teachers and 20 bilingual nursery nurses. There are 219 Section 11 language teachers in the district.

And up to 75 schools are expected to be closed under the school review.

A group of teachers and lecturers have banded together to fight the cuts, including language development teacher Laura Brooks, middle school teacher Josie Hervey, special needs supports assistant Paul Grist, and lecturer Barry Pavier.

In an open letter to Bradford Council, they said: "The Council claims it is committed to raising standards in schools.

"Yet these cuts will have a devastating effect on the quality of education for all Bradford children."

They claimed Bradford Council should be expanding education with more teachers, books, resources and support assistance, not opting for widescale school closures which the reduction in funding will lead to.

Mr Grist said: "Resources are available. The £750m being spent on the Millennium Dome is absolute folly and this money should be used in education. Our children deserve better than this."

Education chairman Jim Flood responded by saying that Labour had made billions of pounds of extra money available for schools as well as the extra £1.5m Bradford itself was putting into education.

He said: "The system does need more money and one way of achieving that is to spend what we have more wisely. That is what the schools' review is designed to do. Some schools will close but some will open and others will be enlarged."

Chris Milone, the middle school convenor in Bradford, said she shared the teachers' concerns.

"After 18 years of Tory Government, Bradford has been left in an invidious position but the main thrust of the authority's policies must be to offer value for money based on a fair assessment of children's needs," she said.

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