Despite a hard fought campaign to save English teaching for speakers of other languages, two of Burngreave’s main providers face massive cuts this term.
Funded through Sheffield College, the Yemeni Community Association (YCA) and the Yemeni Economic Relief Organisation (YERO), provided classes for over 370 students last year, but this year it will be just over 150.
The courses that are being cut will be at Entry Level One and Two. While level Three is required for those needing ‘Indefinite Leave to Remain’, the cuts mean less people will be able to work towards the higher level. A tutor at YCA, Anesar Shaibi, told the Messenger:
“This affects the most vulnerable, like the older generation, some of them need to learn English so they can cope on their own. They are learning skills for life here, so they can do basic things like call for an ambulance.”
YCA explained that when the term starts they will have to turn people away, Diane Haimeed said, “It will be heart-breaking, and it will be us as providers who will be blamed. So many of the people who will lose out we have worked with for years, and we will feel like we have let them down.”
The YCA have had to make five tutors redundant because of the cuts. The campaign against the cuts is set to continue, and people are working to find funding to make things better next year.