🔗 Share this article MoD Spends Millions on Private Education to Avoid Welsh Teaching RAF Valley prepares UK fighter pilots as well as crew for mountain and naval missions The MoD allocates around one million pounds each year to send children to private schools in north Wales because "public schools provide some or all lessons in the Welsh language". The ministry disbursed over one million pounds in educational stipend in north Wales for 83 children of service personnel in the current academic year, and nearly one million pounds for seventy-nine students in the previous year under a established practice. An official representative stated "service children can experience regular relocations" and the stipend "seeks to minimize interruption to their schooling". The Welsh party described it as a "total misuse of money" and "a disrespect to our tongue" while the Conservatives said families should be able to choose the medium in which their children are taught. The Duke of Cambridge was stationed in RAF Valley from 2010 and 2013 The figures were obtained following a inquiry under the Freedom of Information Act. The website of the military installation on Anglesey informs its personnel, "if you live and serve in north Wales, where public schools provide some or all lessons in the Welsh language, you may choose to enroll your children to an English-language private institution". "As long as you are joined by your household at your duty station, you can use this allowance to pay for the expense of tuition fees, field study trips/residential learning programs and daily transport." A defense ministry representative explained, "the aim of Day School Allowance in the northern region (DSA-NW) is to support military households stationed to the region, where the Welsh tongue is the primary medium of local state education". "Since relocation is a part of service life, service children can encounter frequent moves and from this allowance seeks to lessen disruption to their learning." "The MoD acknowledges the sacrifices service personnel, and their families undertake, and through DSA-NW assists with the costs of private education provided in English." 'Where teaching is bilingual or non-English' The benefit covers school costs up to a limit of twenty-two thousand seven hundred fifty-five pounds annually, £7,585 per term, and is available to people residing in the counties of Conwy, the area, Gwynedd, Anglesey or the district and working in these specific locations: RAF Valley, Anglesey Joint Services Mountain Training Centre, the island The joint military mountain unit, the town The university military training program (UOTC), Bangor unit, the city The eligible independent institutions are Treffos school, Llansadwrn, the island; Rydal Penrhos Prep school in Colwyn Bay; St Gerard's school, Bangor and St David's College, Llandudno. The applicable military policy document states that "disbursement of the stipend is limited to those areas where instruction in the public system is on a dual-language or non-English foundation". Personnel serving in other locations in the three branches of the military - the Army, the Royal Navy and the air service - can apply for a continuity of education allowance which contributes towards residential and/or school charges up to a cap, with a minimum parental contribution of 10% for each eligible child. Welsh Conservative Senedd member Natasha Asghar said "members of the UK military move around the nation and the globe, and the ministry have always sought to ensure that their children have availability to consistency in schooling". "While we strongly endorse Welsh-language teaching across the country, it's important to remember there are two official languages in our nation, English and Welsh, and municipal authorities and education authorities should provide for each." "Families should always have the option to select the medium in which their children are taught." The Welsh party's education spokesperson the assembly member said "not just is this a complete waste of funding, it is an insult to our language". "It's hard to imagine any justifiable cause to be spending these funds every year, on preventing young people residing in the country from having the chance to learn the Welsh tongue." "Bilingualism enhances experience and aids the development of youth, but the British administration is obviously unaware to this." "This money is a clear illustration of the approach of the Westminster parties regarding Wales and the native tongue - namely unawareness and insults."