Consultation is a ‘cruel’ move during pandemic
WELSH language campaigners claim a six-week public consultation into plans to permanently close a village school in Carmarthenshire is a “cruel” move during lockdown and the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
On Monday, Carmarthenshire Council launched the consultation over proposals to close the Welsh-medium Ysgol Mynyddygarreg near Kidwelly.
Under the proposals the school in Meinciau Road, Mynyddygarreg would be discontinued at the end of August.
This would not mean the school closing then, but pupils would have to relocate in 2023 to a new Ysgol Gwenllian, Kidwelly.
Last month saw opposition from the community to the plans with villagers arguing the community had already lost a hotel, pubs and a post office.
Campaigners argue the school is a focal point and the community will go into decline without it.
Now Welsh language campaign group Cymdeithas Yr Iaith has hit out at the timing of the public consultation, when the school is closed with pupils home schooling and many parents and guardians at home too – all due to the Wales-wide alert level 4 lockdown that remains in place in a bid to control the spread of Covid-19.
However, Carmarthenshire Council said the consultation process will give everyone in the local community the opportunity to have their say.
Cymdeithas Yr Iaith spokeswoman Bethan Williams said “The county council has taken a cruel decision to hold a consultation in the middle of a pandemic when the school itself is closed and parents confined to their homes.
“On top of having to get
through the pressures caused by the pandemic, parents are also being faced with the strain of knowing that they could lose the school which is the centre of cultural and social life in the village.
“It is heart-breaking for them, and the restrictions mean that it is so much more difficult to organise a visible local campaign to defend the school.”
She added: “Closure would also be a real blow to the Welsh language, as parents in future could choose to send their children to English-medium education if the village
school were to close.”
The consultation ends on February 11 and Carmarthenshire Council said the process would give everyone in the local community the opportunity to have their say, either via the consultation pages on the council website or by emailing or writing to the council if preferred.
Links to the consultation documents are being sent to all interested parties, and the education department will be organising ‘virtual’ drop-in sessions so that communities can discuss the proposals
and ask any questions they may have.
Some informal sessions have already been held with parents and governors to give them a chance to speak to officers and ask any questions on the proposals.
The information gathered from the consultations will form part of the consultation report which will be submitted to the executive board for consideration following the consultation period.
Executive board member for education and children’s services councillor Glynog Davies said: “The council has a statutory obligation to keep the number and type of school places under review and to deliver services to clear standards by the most economic and effective means.
“Our schools need to be able to provide a wide range of services to the communities they serve, and it is important that future provision reflects the changing patterns of population, with schools based in the right location with the accommodation and facilities that are fit to serve the needs of 21st Century learners.”