Brimbank council has endorsed the idea to roll-out a Vietnamese bilingual kindergarten program to boost the learning benefits for local children.
Councillor Thuy Dang raised the notice of motion at a council meeting on July 18, which involved council identifying suitable kindergartens to implement the program.
Cr Dang’s motion follows on from the state government’s recent announcement inviting early childhood services to apply for funding to deliver a bilingual kindergarten program from term one next year.
Cr Dang said council will proactively work with kindergarten service providers to make them aware of the opportunity to submit an expression of interest to the Department of Education for funding to implement the program.
Cr Dang said kindergartens in Brimbank have 348 students registered where their parents’ primary language is Vietnamese and 362 students registered where their primary carer was born in Vietnam.
“We are living in a diverse community where we promote cultural pride and our diversity, so I believe we understand well how important it is for the children to know their mother tongue,” she said.
All early childhood services joining the bilingual kinder initiative will be supported to recruit a qualified language teacher if they do not already have one within their staff.
