<h1 style="margin:0.25em 0px;padding:0px;word-wrap:break-word;font-family:ProximaNova,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:2.5em;letter-spacing:-1px;line-height:1;color:rgb(51,51,51);background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">Mills says Indigenous language teaching is vital</h1>
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By Jano Gibson</div><p class="published" style="margin:0px 0px 0.833em;padding:0px;word-wrap:break-word;line-height:1.5;font-size:0.9167em;font-weight:bold;color:rgb(102,102,102);font-family:Verdana,'Lucida Grande','Bitstream Vera Sans',Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">
Updated <span class="timestamp" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;word-wrap:break-word">11 hours 19 minutes ago</span></p><div class="attached-content ready" style="margin:0px 0px 20px 20px;padding:0px;word-wrap:break-word;outline:none 0px;width:340px;float:right;list-style:none;border-bottom-width:1px;border-bottom-style:solid;border-bottom-color:rgb(231,231,231);color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Verdana,'Lucida Grande','Bitstream Vera Sans',Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:12px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">
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<a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-10-25/20120119-indigenous-students-gunbalanya-school-starts-early/4333300" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;word-wrap:break-word;color:rgb(85,102,136);text-decoration:none"><img src="http://www.abc.net.au/news/image/3782550-3x2-340x227.jpg" alt="Mills says Indigenous languages schooling is vital" title="Gunbalanya school " width="340" height="227" style="margin: 0px 0px 5px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word; border: none; display: block; cursor: url(http://www.abc.net.au/res/sites/news/images/common/zoom_in.cur), pointer; "></a><a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-10-25/20120119-indigenous-students-gunbalanya-school-starts-early/4333300" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;word-wrap:break-word;color:rgb(85,102,136);text-decoration:none"><strong style="margin:0px;padding:0px;word-wrap:break-word;font-size:0.85em;color:rgb(0,0,0);text-transform:uppercase">PHOTO:</strong> Terry Mills says learning English is the ultimate goal but that does not mean removing Indigenous languages from the classroom. <span class="source" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;word-wrap:break-word;color:rgb(102,102,102);font-size:0.85em;white-space:nowrap">(ABC News)</span></a></div>
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<a class="inline-caption" href="http://maps.google.com/?q=-12.4668,130.8433(Darwin%200800)&z=5" style="margin:0px 25px 0px 0px;padding:0px;word-wrap:break-word;color:rgb(85,102,136);text-decoration:none;display:block"><strong style="margin:0px;padding:0px;word-wrap:break-word;font-size:0.85em;color:rgb(0,0,0);text-transform:uppercase">MAP: </strong>Darwin 0800</a><a class="toggle" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;word-wrap:break-word;display:block;height:16px;width:16px;background-image:url(http://www.abc.net.au/res/sites/news/images/common/icons/expand-toggle.png);background-repeat:no-repeat no-repeat"></a></div>
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Chief Minister Terry Mills says there are no differences of opinion in the Government about not teaching Indigenous languages at schools in remote Northern Territory communities.</p><p style="margin:0px 0px 0.833em;padding:0px;word-wrap:break-word;line-height:1.5;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Verdana,'Lucida Grande','Bitstream Vera Sans',Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:12px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">
Mr Mills says it is important for Aboriginal students to be taught in their first language, in order to learn English.</p><p style="margin:0px 0px 0.833em;padding:0px;word-wrap:break-word;line-height:1.5;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Verdana,'Lucida Grande','Bitstream Vera Sans',Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:12px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">
Earlier, Indigenous Advancement Minister Alison Anderson had said English should be taught at the schools, and the learning of traditional languages should be done by families outside school hours.</p><p style="margin:0px 0px 0.833em;padding:0px;word-wrap:break-word;line-height:1.5;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Verdana,'Lucida Grande','Bitstream Vera Sans',Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:12px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">
That contradicted a commitment by Education Minister Robyn Lambley to fund bilingual education in remote schools.</p><p style="margin:0px 0px 0.833em;padding:0px;word-wrap:break-word;line-height:1.5;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Verdana,'Lucida Grande','Bitstream Vera Sans',Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:12px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">
Mr Mills says learning English is the ultimate goal but that does not mean removing Indigenous languages from the classroom.</p><p style="margin:0px 0px 0.833em;padding:0px;word-wrap:break-word;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">
</p><p style="margin:0px 0px 0.833em;padding:0px;word-wrap:break-word"><font color="#333333" face="Verdana, Lucida Grande, Bitstream Vera Sans, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12px;line-height:18px">Access full article below: </span></font></p>
<div><font color="#333333" face="Verdana, Lucida Grande, Bitstream Vera Sans, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12px;line-height:18px"><a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-10-25/mills-on-language-teaching-remote-schools/4333250?section=nt">http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-10-25/mills-on-language-teaching-remote-schools/4333250?section=nt</a></span></font></div>
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