🔗 Share this article MoD Allocates Millions on Private Schools to Avoid Welsh Language Teaching RAF Valley prepares UK fighter pilots as well as personnel for alpine and maritime operations The MoD spends approximately one million pounds each year to place students to independent schools in northern Wales because "public schools provide various lessons in the Welsh language". The ministry disbursed £1,019,000 in day school allowance in the northern region for eighty-three students of military families in 2024-2025, and nearly one million pounds for seventy-nine students in the previous year under a established policy. A spokesperson stated "military families' children can face regular relocations" and the allowance "aims to reduce interruption to their schooling". The Welsh party called it a "complete waste of money" and "an insult to our language" while the Tory party said parents should be able to choose the language in which their kids are taught. The Duke of Cambridge was stationed in RAF Valley from 2010 to 2013 These numbers were obtained following a inquiry under the public records law. The website of RAF Valley on the island informs its personnel, "if you live and serve in northern Wales, where public schools teach some or all classes in the Welsh tongue, you may choose to send your kids to an English-language private institution". "Provided you are accompanied by your family at your duty station, you can utilize this benefit to pay for the cost of tuition fees, educational excursions/residential learning programs and regular commuting." An MoD spokesperson told, "the aim of Day School Allowance in North Wales (the allowance) is to assist military households stationed to the region, where Welsh is the primary medium of public schooling". "As mobility is a aspect of service life, service children can encounter regular transfers and from DSA-NW aims to lessen interference to their learning." "The ministry acknowledges the sacrifices military members, and their relatives undertake, and from DSA-NW assists with the expenses of independent day schooling provided in the English language." 'In Areas With Bilingual or Non-English Instruction' The allowance covers school costs up to a limit of twenty-two thousand seven hundred fifty-five pounds a year, seven thousand five hundred eighty-five pounds per term, and is accessible to people residing in the counties of the county, the area, the locality, the island or Flintshire and serving in these specific locations: RAF Valley, Anglesey Joint Services Mountain Training Centre, the island The joint military mountain unit, Llanrwst Wales University Officers' Training Corps (UOTC), Bangor unit, the city The eligible independent institutions are Treffos institution, the village, the island; Rydal Penrhos preparatory institution in the town; St Gerard's, the city and St David's institution, the town. The relevant military policy document confirms that "disbursement of the stipend is limited to those regions where teaching in the state sector is on a dual-language or non-English foundation". Personnel serving elsewhere in the three branches of the military - the ground forces, the Royal Navy and the air service - can apply for a educational continuity benefit which helps with boarding and/or tuition fees up to a cap, with a required family share of ten percent for each eligible child. Tory assembly representative Natasha Asghar commented "personnel of the British armed forces relocate across the country and the world, and the MoD has always sought to ensure that their children have access to continuity in schooling". "Although we fully support Welsh-language teaching throughout Wales, it's crucial to recognize there are two official languages in our nation, the English tongue and Welsh, and local councils and education authorities should accommodate both." "Families should always have the option to select the language in which their kids are taught." The Welsh party's learning representative the assembly member said "not only is this a complete waste of money, it is a slight to our tongue". "I cannot think of any valid reason to be spending such money every year, on blocking youth living in the country from having the opportunity to acquire the Welsh tongue." "Bilingualism enriches life and aids the growth of youth, but the British administration is obviously unaware to this." "This money is a perfect example of the approach of the UK political groups towards the nation and the Welsh language - namely unawareness and insults."