Actually, it’s all foreign languages, but I’d already made the title of this post too long trying to avoid the inaccurate title of the original piece:
Ban on teaching English to pre-school children raises controversy
Actually the policy seems quite sensible – until there is enough research on the topic and proper training of teachers in techniques specific to pre-school kids, the government won’t fund it and so parents have to pay for extra classes after the regular school day if they want them.
As for the controversy, there should be none – the idea that young children learn foreign languages better than older ones and adults is complete crap, especially when it comes to classes a couple times a week. For many articles on doing so the best that is possible (none of which using words like “crap”), see here.
Shouldn’t be controversial really. It might be useful but I think it’s probably better to focus on other stuff in preschool classes. If the parents want to pay extra then they can. Personally I think about 5-6 is the best age to start learning English, and even then parents shouldn’t expect their kids to become bilingual. I tend to tell myself it’s better than what they might otherwise be doing if they were at home but not going to make much difference really.