We would like to hear your views on the possible introduction of Punjabi and Hindi language education in ACT public schools.

Languages are one of the eight learning areas under the Australian Curriculum and provide valuable educational opportunities for students in ACT public schools. Language education provides students with skills to access an increasingly global environment. Learning a language increases communication skills and assists with critical and creative thinking and problem solving. It also makes students more culturally aware and connected to different communities.

The Indian diaspora is the ACT’s largest multicultural community, making up around 17,000 people, with almost 10,000 people speaking Punjabi or Hindi at home. The August 2024 Census of ACT public schools reported over 600 ACT public school students identify Punjabi as their derived main language, and over 800 ACT public school students identify Hindi as their derived main language.

The ACT Government welcomes diverse representation of feedback and perspectives to ensure ACT public schools offer a language education program reflective of the ACT community.

Your feedback will be used to:

• identify student interest in learning Punjabi and Hindi at school, and which ACT public schools they attend.
• consider the introduction of Punjabi and Hindi language teaching for ACT public school students, where this would benefit the local community.

Following the consultation, we will work with ACT Punjabi and Hindi speaking communities to determine how and where Punjabi and Hindi languages might best be delivered in ACT public schools.

Canberra is a vibrant, multicultural city, and remains one of the best cities to learn a language in addition to English. The ACT is well positioned to provide a rich language program with access to embassies, universities and the broader community language sector. ACT public schools provide language education in the eight priority languages: Chinese, French, German, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, and Spanish.

We support the development of student mother tongue and other language programs through the Canberra Language Network, the Community Language Schools Association and the provision of professional learning for community language school teachers.

The ACT education system is constantly evolving and improving to meet student and community needs and the increasing demands of a modern global society.