English: Minister, I want to thank you for your statement and for the work of this Welsh Government in ensuring that we can continue with the urgently needed rebuild of our Welsh schools infrastructure. Education, apart from love, I believe, is the greatest gift that we can give our children. As a society, it speaks to who and what we are, to what we prioritise and what we value as a progressive and dynamic nation. In Islwyn, the delivery of the £3.7 billion twenty-first century schools programme has seen schools like Islwyn High created, with large-scale investments to secondary schools in Newbridge and Blackwood. We have, as a local education authority and Welsh Government partnership, delivered on brand new state-of-the-art primary schools, eco-schools, across the borough, and with much more to come. Our schools and places of learning should be in their bricks and mortar what they embody in soul and spirit to the communities they serve, whatever the pedagogy they follow. And after decades of chronic lack of investment from a Tory Government via Whitehall, Islwyn communities value our twenty-first century schools as much as they value their teachers and education staff, who make up the very heart and soul of our communities. We agree that they need to be more than fit for purpose, because our children and future generations deserve the best that this generation can offer them. So, Minister, what are the challenges facing this innovative Wales-only programme in the years ahead, what are the obstacles we face in accelerating that reach so that every community in Islwyn and throughout Wales continues to experience the priority value we place on the very most important legacy of all for our future generations?
Welsh: Gweinidog, hoffwn ddiolch i chi am eich datganiad ac am waith y Llywodraeth hon yng Nghymru i sicrhau y gallwn barhau â'r gwaith o ailadeiladu ein seilwaith ysgolion yng Nghymru ar frys. Addysg, ar wahân i gariad, rwy'n credu, yw'r rhodd fwyaf y gallwn ei rhoi i'n plant. Fel cymdeithas, mae'n tystio i bwy a beth ydym ni, i'r hyn yr ydym ni yn ei flaenoriaethu a'n gwerth fel cenedl flaengar a deinamig. Yn Islwyn, mae cyflwyno'r rhaglen ysgolion yr unfed ganrif ar hugain gwerth £3.7 biliwn wedi gweld ysgolion fel Ysgol Uwchradd Islwyn yn cael eu creu, gyda buddsoddiadau ar raddfa fawr i ysgolion uwchradd yn Nhrecelyn a'r Coed Duon. Rydym ni, fel awdurdod addysg lleol a phartneriaeth Llywodraeth Cymru, wedi darparu ysgolion cynradd newydd sbon o'r radd flaenaf, eco-ysgolion, ar draws y fwrdeistref, a chyda llawer mwy i ddod. Dylai ein hysgolion a'n mannau dysgu fod yn eu hadeiledd yr hyn y maen nhw yn ei ymgorffori mewn enaid ac ysbryd i'r cymunedau y maen nhw yn eu gwasanaethu, beth bynnag eu haddysgeg. Ac ar ôl degawdau o ddiffyg buddsoddiad cronig gan Lywodraeth Dorïaidd drwy Whitehall, mae cymunedau Islwyn yn gwerthfawrogi ein hysgolion yr unfed ganrif ar hugain gymaint ag y maen nhw'n gwerthfawrogi eu hathrawon a'u staff addysg, sy'n ffurfio calon ac enaid ein cymunedau. Cytunwn fod angen iddyn nhw fod yn fwy nac addas i'r diben, oherwydd mae ein plant a chenedlaethau'r dyfodol yn haeddu'r gorau y gall y genhedlaeth hon ei gynnig iddynt. Felly, Gweinidog, beth yw'r heriau yn y blynyddoedd i ddod sy'n wynebu'r rhaglen arloesol hon sydd ond ar waith yng Nghymru? Beth yw'r rhwystrau a wynebwn ni wrth inni brysuro i gyflawni hynny fel bod pob cymuned yn Islwyn a ledled Cymru yn parhau i brofi'r gwerth hynod bwysig hwn yr ydym ni yn ei roi ar y gwaddol pwysicaf oll i genedlaethau'r dyfodol?