This was the first event held in the north of England

The Leeds community have rallied around a campaign to add Romanian as a language option for GCSEs, saying it’s crucial for “recognising identity.”

Romanians across the city gathered with campaign representatives and councillors to show their support for the initiative.

It featured keynote speeches from teachers and academics, performances from local schools, and Romanian food provided by a Doncaster-based caterer.

Members from the Romanian community across Yorkshire attended the event at Bridge Community Church | Jack Young

placeholder image — Members from the Romanian community across Yorkshire attended the event at Bridge Community Church | Jack Young

A previous event, organised by Beyond Romania CIC, was held at the House of Commons in London in October, with MPs joined by students from Harehills in Leeds.

Caleb Dodd, one of the campaign’s leaders and Citizenship Teacher at the Co-op Academy in Harehills, said the event was an opportunity for the children to make their voices heard.

He told the Yorkshire Evening Post: “I think the difference between then and now was that there were a lot of adults talking at that meeting, and now we’re giving the microphone over to the children who are going to explain with passion and precision why this matters to them and their identity.

“They have this sinking feeling every summer when we call up the kids to come and sit their Urdu exams or their Polish exams, knowing that they won’t get their turn.

“I think they feel really grateful that they’ve got a school that’s fighting for them to be recognised on an equal footing.”

Pictured: Caleb Dodd, a teacher at Harehills' Co-op Academy and key campaign voice on behalf of his Romanian students | Jack Young

The event, held at Bridge Community Church in Burmantofts, showcased passionate appeals from students towards adding Romanian as a language option to the GCSE curriculum.

There are currently around 150,000 Romanian students in schools across the UK, and it is the second-most spoken foreign language in the country.

Caleb added: “We originally started off with a petition with over 4000 young people across the country signing it.

“Just for context, out of the top ten most spoken languages in the UK, nine of them have GCSEs.

“The only one that’s missing is Romanian, and Romanian is second on that list.”

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Caleb also emphasised that the ability to communicate with confidence in your mother tongue helps to boost attainment in other subjects at school.

“As a teacher, I know that the most powerful motivator is the feeling of success.

“If you feel like you’re good at something and you can do it, you become more confident, and when you’re more confident, you’re more willing to approach new challenges.

“Now, if there’s a GCSE that recognises the language you already speak, that builds that feeling of success.”

Last week, Secretary of State for Education Lucy Powell announced a new GCSE in Ukrainian to reflect the government’s “enduring support for Ukraine.”

Regarding the Romanian GCSE campaign, a spokesperson for the Department of Education said: “We recognise the importance of languages to communities across the country and will continue to consider opportunities for engagement with relevant stakeholder groups.”