English: The Education Act 1996 says that pupils should be educated in accordance with parents' wishes, and that the Secretary of State should have regard to the general principle that pupils are to be educated in accordance with the wishes of their parents. That legislation has, of course, been overtaken since devolution, but the principle behind it, I think, should be pretty non-controversial. I presume that is why there was a consultation process, which was conducted by Carmarthenshire County Council in the case of Llangennech school and the proposals that they have to merge the two existing schools into one Welsh-medium-only school. But if the purpose of a consultation is to seek public opinion, particularly of those most closely affected by the decision, who are, of course, the parents of the children whose lives are going to be most deeply affected by the education that they are to receive, this is one that has not succeeded. The consultation has been a lengthy one. In January 2016, there was an initial consultation on the proposals and there were 154 responses that were in favour, 102 against. There was one anonymous response in favour, and 32 anonymous results against, but there was a petition with 505 names on it that was counted as one vote. If you take individual voices as an indication of public opinion, which is the obvious thing to do, then I'm afraid that Llangennech voted heavily against the proposal of the county council. There was another consultation, or extension of the consultation, when the statutory notice was published later in the year, and the results then were 1,418 responses altogether, of which 698 were in favour of what the county council proposed and 720 were against. But only 44 per cent of those responses can be positively identified as being from people who live in and around the village - 25 per cent came from outside and 31 per cent were respondees who gave no address or postcode, or any other means of identifying where they were from. There was a petition, which, this time, had 757 names on it from Llangennech, but that, similarly, counts as one vote only in this process. Now, the county council quite rightly says in the document that summarised all these results that, The decision on whether or not to proceed with the proposal must, by virtue of the law, be made on the grounds of the best interests of learners. It is therefore, the educational merits that must be the determining factor in decision making, rather than the number of responses received in favour or against the proposal.' And I agree with that, that actual arithmetical numbers shouldn't necessarily be the sole determinant of the decision that is made, but, ultimately, I do think that we should respect the views of parents unless a compelling case to the contrary can be made, and I don't think, in this particular instance, that it has. Of course, there is a massive cultural value to having children learning to speak Welsh, as well as English, and I'm in favour of bilingualism. But, unfortunately, one of the developments in recent -
Welsh: Mae Deddf Addysg 1996 yn dweud y dylai disgyblion gael eu haddysgu yn unol â dymuniadau'r rhieni, ac y dylai'r Ysgrifennydd Gwladol ystyried yr egwyddor gyffredinol fod disgyblion yn cael eu haddysgu yn unol â dymuniadau eu rhieni. Mae'r ddeddfwriaeth honno, wrth gwrs, wedi cael ei goddiweddyd ers datganoli, ond ni ddylai'r egwyddor sy'n sail iddi fod yn ddadleuol iawn yn fy marn i. Rwy'n tybio mai dyna pam y cafwyd proses ymgynghori, a gynhaliwyd gan Gyngor Sir Caerfyrddin, yn achos ysgol Llangennech a'r cynigion sydd ganddynt i uno'r ddwy ysgol bresennol yn un ysgol cyfrwng Cymraeg yn unig. Ond os mai diben yr ymgynghoriad yw ceisio barn y cyhoedd, yn enwedig y rhai yr effeithir arnynt yn fwyaf agos gan y penderfyniad, sef, wrth gwrs, rhieni'r plant yr effeithir yn fwyaf dwfn ar eu bywydau gan yr addysg y maent yn mynd i'w derbyn, dyma un nad yw wedi llwyddo. Mae'r ymgynghoriad wedi bod yn un maith. Ym mis Ionawr 2016, cafwyd ymgynghoriad cychwynnol ar y cynigion ac roedd 154 o ymatebion o blaid, 102 yn erbyn. Cafwyd un ymateb dienw o blaid, a 32 canlyniad dienw yn erbyn, ond roedd yna ddeiseb gyda 505 o enwau arni a gafodd ei chyfrif fel un bleidlais. Os ydych yn cymryd lleisiau unigol fel arwydd o farn y cyhoedd, sef y peth amlwg i'w wneud, yna mae gennyf ofn fod Llangennech wedi pleidleisio'n drwm yn erbyn cynnig y cyngor sir. Cafwyd ymgynghoriad arall, neu ymestyniad o'r ymgynghoriad, pan gyhoeddwyd yr hysbysiad statudol yn ddiweddarach yn y flwyddyn, a bryd hynny y canlyniad oedd 1,418 o ymatebion i gyd, ac o'r rhain roedd 698 o blaid yr hyn a gynigiodd y cyngor sir ac roedd 720 yn erbyn. Ond 44 y cant yn unig o'r ymatebion hynny y gellir eu nodi'n gadarnhaol fel rhai gan bobl sy'n byw yn y pentref ac o'i amgylch - dôi 25 y cant o'r tu allan ac roedd 31 y cant yn ymatebwyr na roddodd unrhyw gyfeiriad neu god post, neu unrhyw ddull arall o nodi o ble roeddent yn dod. Roedd yna ddeiseb, a oedd, y tro hwn, yn cynnwys 757 o enwau arni o Langennech, ond yn yr un modd, roedd honno'n cyfrif fel un bleidlais yn unig yn y broses hon. Nawr, mae'r cyngor sir yn gwbl briodol yn dweud yn y ddogfen sy'n crynhoi'r holl ganlyniadau hyn, 'Mae'n rhaid, yn statudol, i'r penderfyniad ynghylch camu ymlaen neu beidio â'r cynnig gael ei wneud er lles pennaf y dysgwyr. Felly mae'n rhaid penderfynu ar sail y rhinweddau addysgol hyn hytrach nag ar sail nifer yr ymatebion a ddaeth i law, boed o blaid neu yn erbyn y cynnig.' Ac rwy'n cytuno â hynny, na ddylai niferoedd rhifyddol gwirioneddol o reidrwydd fod yn unig sail i'r penderfyniad a wneir, ond yn y pen draw, rwy'n credu y dylem barchu barn rhieni oni bai y gellir gwneud achos cryf i'r gwrthwyneb, ac nid wyf yn credu, yn yr achos penodol hwn, ei fod wedi ei wneud. Wrth gwrs, mae gwerth diwylliannol enfawr i gael plant i ddysgu siarad Cymraeg, yn ogystal â Saesneg, ac rwyf o blaid dwyieithrwydd. Ond yn anffodus, un o'r datblygiadau yn ddiweddar -