The Scots language should be integrated into classrooms “at all levels” under plans to reverse years of “linguistic denigration”, according to supporters of the traditional tongue.
They argue that it also needs legal recognition as an official minority language to prevent further falls in use and a new board to promote it throughout the educational system.
Responses to a proposed Scottish Languages Bill have emerged after the publication of the Scottish government’s legislative programme last week, which made clear that the bill would proceed.
Nicola Sturgeon, the former first minister, is among those to have championed the value of Scots, telling young people the language is “part and parcel of understanding who you are”.
The language is recognised as indigenous and vulnerable by Unesco,