A TIVYSIDE apprentice is one of the first people to study a college course bilingually.

Ifan Phillips is an electrical installations apprentice from Crymych. He is studying the course at Pembrokeshire College in a bilingual format under Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol – being one of the first to do so.

Mr Phillips spoke about his experiences studying bilingually with the provider at an event to celebrate a decade since Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol’s founding, which took place at the Senedd on May 10.

At the event, the organisation declared its intention to ensure equal success in the post-16 sector.

Mr Phillips said in a video shown at the event: “Studying part of my course in Welsh has enabled me to study in my mother tongue, a language I am more comfortable speaking, and I’ve also improved my Welsh and this has helped me to communicate with customers on a professional level.

“Whether you’re studying for a PhD in university through the medium of Welsh or following an apprenticeship, the language belongs to us all.”

Mr Phillips has been advocating for Welsh language and said: “Around eighty per cent of my customers where I work speak Welsh, and prefer to speak Welsh, therefore studying my course bilingually has been very helpful all-round.”

The Coleg’s main focus was university education but in 2019 took on responsibility for developing Welsh medium and bilingual provision in colleges and in the apprenticeships sector.

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This year the Coleg was responsible for funding 20 new lecturing roles in colleges and more than 10,000 learners and apprentices have benefitted from projects involving the Coleg.

Jeremy Miles, education and Welsh language minister, said: “The Coleg’s work in the further, higher and apprenticeships sectors makes an extremely important contribution to the government’s aim of increasing opportunities to use the Welsh language.

“Workers in a variety of sectors now have the skills and confidence to work through the medium of Welsh thanks to the Coleg’s work over the last decade.”

The Coleg aims to make a significant contribution to the Welsh government’s target of creeating a million Welsh speakers and doubling the daily use of the language by 2050 by continuing to attract more students to study part of their degree through the medium of Welsh and increasing its investment in Welsh provision in the post-16 sector. They will also support the goverment to ensure enough teachers with the right Welsh language skills are training to teach in primary and secondary schools.