British Tamil school children are outperforming their peers who have registered English as their first language in reading, writing and mathematics, reports The Express.
Looking at exam results from the previous year for children aged 10 and 11, the Express reported that children who reported Chinese and Tamil as their mother tongue outperformed children whose first language is English in all tests.
Statistics showed that 69 per cent of Tamil children achieved a grade five or above in mathematics, compared to 41 per cent of English first language pupils. The number of Tamil speaking children with top marks in English reading was 53 per cent, compared to 50 per cent of children who have English as their first language.
The statistics released by the UK’s Department for Education recorded 2,800 children as having Tamil as their first language. However, the data also excludes large numbers of Tamil children who have entered selective independent schools after passing entrance exams and do not undertake the same national level assessments.
While Tamil children in the UK continue to excel, in the North-East, hundreds of Tamil pre-schools continue to remain under the administration of Sri Lanka's Civil Security Department. With the Sri Lankan continuing to be a looming presence across the Tamil homeland, the militarised climate has also filtered into schools, with the Sri Lankan military a regular presence.
Several high profile incidents of rapes, murders and abductions of Tamil school children have also taken place over the last year.
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