MOVES to hand over grants to mosques in Blackburn and Darwen to teach youngsters their "mother tongue" has been slammed by Conservative leaders.

The Tory group on Blackburn with Darwen Council are furious that £25,000 in grants will go to mosques across the borough.

And they are strongly opposed to the use of the words "mother tongue" to describe languages such as Urdu, Punjabi and Gujerati.

The grants were originally given out by Lancashire County Council but Blackburn with Darwen Council plans to continue the funding.

John Williams, deputy leader of the Conservative group, said: "We are totally opposed to this move on several counts.

"Money from the education budgets should be spent in schools and not on outside bodies.

"How do we know what sort of standards of education is being taught in organisations such as mosques? "We would have no way of checking standards or monitoring what was being taught."

Coun Williams added: "We also strongly object to the use of the words 'mother tongue' and will continue to do so every time it is used by the council.

"Mother tongue in Blackburn and Darwen should mean English for children born in the borough.

"It is wrong and inaccurate to describe languages such as Urdu and Punjabi as the mother tongue."

Education bosses say Blackburn with Darwen is a multi-cultural area with almost a third of children from Asian backgrounds.

There are calls for an increase in the number of Asian teachers in the borough and a change in the way the Islam religion is taught.

Some members of the Asian community have also claimed their children are discriminated against for school admissions.

Kathy Stephenson, vice-chairman of education and training, said: "This is just one of many grants that the council will be making to the voluntary sector.

"The aim of the education and training committee is to ensure the transition to unitary status is as smooth as possible.

"It would be irresponsible to make too many changes at this stage but we will be reviewing our grants over the next two years."

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