Victoria’s Labor state government has announced it will spend $3.6 million dollars helping kindergartens teach children foreign and aboriginal languages.
The program will support 197 kindergartens to teach 21 foreign languages, including Arabic, Cantonese, Chinese, French, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Karen, Punjabi, Spanish, and Vietnamese, and six Victorian aboriginal languages.
The government described the 2026/27 Budget spend on the Early Childhood Language Program as “nation-leading”, and said it involved kindergarten teachers and language teachers working together to incorporate language into play, art, music, singing, dancing and stories.
“Bilingual kinders give kids the opportunity to connect and share in language and culture across generations,” Minister for Multicultural and Multifaith Victoria Ingrid Stitt said.
About 7,000 children in Victoria already learn languages other English at kindergartens.
Premier Jacinta Allan’s Budget also includes $9.8 million to continue the Building Blocks Improvement and Inclusion Grant program, which Labor said would “unlock more upgrades across Victoria to make centres safer and more inclusive”.
The cash splash is the latest in a series of funding initiatives directed at immigrant groups in Victoria since the beginning of the year, including millions pledged for Chinese businesses and $400,000 for mosque open days in February.
In January the government announced a new $5 million grant scheme to “nurture multiculturalism”, with a focus on “new and emerging communities” mainly from Africa and the Middle East.
Header image: A Punjabi kindergarten class in Melbourne (Department of Education).
