At the culmination of a march on the field of the Urdd National Eisteddfod in Penrhyn Bay at 3pm today, Cymdeithas yr Iaith will be calling on the Assembly’s Education Minister to “stop the proposed mass cull of Welsh-medium Village Schools.”

Cymdeithas Education spokesperson Ffred Ffransis explained:“Two substantial reports on the future of Welsh Village Schools are being published by the Assembly this year, and they could well be a road-map towards increased opportunities for such schools. Expected in late July is the draft of the Assembly’s Education Dept’s new guidelines for LEA’s concerning the future of Village Schools. We ask that these new guidelines should contain a positive recognition of the benefits of Welsh-medium Village Schools. Simultaneously, the Assembly’s Rural Development Sub-committee is holding an enquiry into the re-organisation of primary education in rural areas and is also due to report in July. The sub-committee’s Chair (Alun Davies AM) will be visiting Cymdeithas yr Iaith’s unit on the maes to view the evidence of pupils, head-teachers and governors.”Mr Ffransis explained that the Assembly Government would be considering responses to the two papers and coming to final decisions towards the end of the year. He commented:“It would be an absolute travesty if LEA’s were in the meantime to start any new statutory processes which could lead to the closure of Village Schools before the results of these consultations are even known. We call on the Minister to desist from any such new action and stop the proposed mass cull of village schools in Wales.”• At 3pm today pupils, teachers and governors will be gathering at Cymdeithas yr Iaith’s unit on the Eisteddfod field to testify to the importance of the Village schools to their education and to their communities. The main speakers will be the pupils themselves. Following this meeting there will be a march across the Eisteddfod field to the unit of the Assembly Government to deliver the message to the Minister Jane Hutt.• At the start of the meeting in Cymdeithas’s unit on the field, there will be a showing of the film “The last days of Ysgol Mynyddcerrig” (village school in Carmarthenshire closed in July 2007) and a message from a former pupil one year on. A representative of the Children’s Commissioner for Wales will be present at the meeting to witness the effect of such closures on the children involved.