April 11 2022: Children would rather learn a local First Nations language than the commonly-taught Japanese, Mandarin, French, Italian, German and Indonesian, a new poll of primary school students revealed today.
And their parents say learning the history of Australia's First Nations people is more important for their children than studying the Egyptian pyramids at school.
The Children's Voice survey released today follows a Federal Opposition announcement last week that it would commit $14 million over 3 years to employ a First Nations Language and Culture Teacher in 60 schools.
The Know Your Country campaign - which has described the ALP policy as a "great first step" - invites all political parties, Federal and State, to support funding Cultural Educators in every primary school.
The Campaign-commissioned Children's Voice survey found seven in 10 primary students want to regularly learn from a First Nations Cultural Educator – but only one in three had the opportunity at school last year to meet even one person from the local First Nations community.
Know Your Country ambassador and rock icon Peter Garrett said primary schools were specially placed to set up children for lifelong learning.
"If children are asking to
