Boris Johnson hits out at 'absurd decline of Latin in state schools’

The Mayor is pressing Tory high command to reverse the "absurd" decline of Latin in state schools.

He will host an event for headteachers at City Hall tonight to promote the teaching of Ancient Greek and Latin. Currently only four per cent of state primaries teach Latin, compared with 40 per cent of private schools.

Mr Johnson, who studied classics at Oxford, has written to shadow children's secretary Michael Gove to express his concern that Latin is not recognised on the National Curriculum and to highlight the lack of specialist classics teachers.

The Mayor warned that Latin must not become the "fodder" of privately educated children alone. "It is absurd that the progenitor of many modern European languages is not recognised on the National Curriculum," he said. "We must not starve the minds of students eager to embrace the disciplines of Latin."

He said he hoped today's event at City Hall would recruit more headteachers to join his campaign.
Research by the Friends of Classics society found that among schools teaching classical subjects, 77 per cent of independent schools offer Latin at A-level, compared with 33 per cent of state schools.

Teachers say Latin trains pupils in logical and analytical skills as well as providing a foundation for studying a modern language and writing English.