CRANBOURNE, MELBOURNE, 14 November 2022: Premier Daniel Andrews and Caranbourne MP and Labor candidate Pauline Richards today announced in Cranbourne that an elected Labor government will invest $ 3.5 million to create beacon schools to teach Hindi and Punjabi at the VCE level. The funding will support three schools to teach Hindi and Punjabi at the VCE level.
A media release from Premier Daniel Andrews says, ” We’ll ensure there’s one school in the west, one in the north and one in the south east that teach each of Hindi and Punjabi, ensuring a broad geographic spread for students. We’ll also invest $150,000 to deliver scholarships worth $15,000 each, to support Victorians who want to train and teach Hindi and Punjabi in our schools.”
“Victoria has the biggest Indian population in Australia – it makes sense to teach Hindi and Punjabi in Victorian schools. Labor is doing what matters, supporting students to learn Hindi and Punjabi and making sure Victorians with Indian heritage can connect to their culture,” the Premier says.
Interestingly, the Libs have put up an Indian-Punjabi Jagdeep Singh, a former Labor member to contest from Cranbourne, while the Labor candidate Pauline Richards is a sitting MP.
Victoria has the highest Indian population in Australia – according to census data, there are more than 170,000 Victorians who speak Hindi, Punjabi, and other Indian languages in the state.
