Kate Forbes welcomes move for Highland schools to get audio devices with dozens of Gaelic stories, songs and poems ahead of the opening of the Royal National Mòd in Lochaber later today
Gaelic medium schools throughout the Highlands are to get audio devices with access to 70 Gaelic stories, songs and poems as part of a drive to grow the language.
The initiative is being delivered through a £75,000 package being announced by Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes who is also the cabinet secretary for the economy and Gaelic ahead of the Royal National Mòd’s opening in Lochaber later today.
The funding will also support the refurbishment of Newtonmore Primary School and enable more Gaelic schools in the Highlands to purchase equipment for media and music classes.
The £75,000 comes from the Gaelic Capital Grant Fund for 2025-26 will support:
The refurbishment of Newtonmore Primary and Sgoi-àraich
Delivering Gaelic audio devices to 37 Highland schools and early learning centres
Recording equipment for media classes in five Gaelic medium secondary schools
The completion of a recording studio at Sgoil Chi`uil in Plockton
Ms Forbes – herself a Gaelic speaker – said: “This funding represents a significant step forward in our efforts to strengthen Gaelic’s growth in the Highlands. It builds on an encouraging increase in the number of Gaelic speakers in the Highlands recorded at the most recent census.
“Today also marks the start of the Royal National Mòd in Lochaber. This year’s event is the first National Mòd held since the passage of our Scottish Languages Act.
“The legislation, supported unanimously by MSPs, will establish Gaelic as an official language of Scotland and enable parents to ask for a Gaelic school to be set up in their area.”