‘Britain’s asylum capital’ where 1-in-3 children doesn’t speak English as a first language
In the city’s schools, nearly a third of students are navigating the complexities of learning English as an extra language, sparking a national conversation.
Locals protested over schools being used for English-language classes (Image: Getty)
A staggering 28.8 percent of students in Glasgow’s schools now speak English as an additional language (EAL), the highest proportion anywhere in Scotland, according to alarming new data from the Scottish Government reported by the Telegraph. The number of these EAL learners has surged by nearly a third since 2019, sparking concerns about the city’s ability to cope with the influx of new arrivals.
The figures, collected last September, showed that out of 71,957 students enrolled in Glasgow’s schools, a whopping 20,717 spoke English as an additional language. This category encompasses pupils who are new to English and still developing their language skills and fluency.
To support these students, the city council deploys specialist teachers, while classroom teachers also provide direct assistance to some EAL learners.
Glasgow dubbed ‘Britain’s asylum capital’
The revelations come amid growing worries about Glasgow’s capacity to manage the surge of new arrivals, with the city now being labeled “Britain’s asylum capital.” Glasgow currently houses more asylum seekers than any other local authority in the UK, with 3,777 being accommodated at the end of September.
Scotland’s more lenient homelessness rules, which require councils to house all unintentionally homeless people, including single men, are believed to be attracting refugees from as far as Belfast, Birmingham, London, Manchester, and Liverpool.
Council insists not all are new arrivals
Despite the alarming figures, Glasgow council bosses maintained that not all English learners were recent immigrants, noting that the annual number of overseas enrolments had actually decreased by over 1,000 in the current academic year. They also attributed the rise in EAL learners partly to more accurate recording of student numbers.
However, Glasgow still boasted the largest share of EAL students in Scotland in 2024, followed by Edinburgh (22.1 percent) and Aberdeen (21.6 percent). Inverclyde, in west central Scotland, saw the most dramatic increase over the past five years, with the number of EAL students more than tripling between 2019 and 2024.
Opposition slams SNP’s ‘failure to integrate’
Opposition figures have described the findings as “staggering,” claiming they underscore the SNP‘s failure to integrate immigrant communities into Scottish society. Stephen Kerr, a Tory MSP, warned of the “serious consequences” the scale of demand could have on educational standards, social cohesion, and the long-term health of Scottish society and economy.
Kerr stated, “A cohesive society depends on a shared language. For so many children of immigrants to have a level of English that requires support at school is a failure of government to ensure that immigrant communities are integrating into wider Scottish society.”
He accused the SNP of “avoiding the difficult work of integrating immigrant communities under a misguided politically correct agenda that is now failing these children,” calling for a “complete rethink” to ensure that all residents can fully participate in Scottish society.
Glasgow is ‘enriched’
In response, a spokesman for Glasgow council said, “Glasgow thrives as a city enriched by many different languages and cultures, and we proudly celebrate this diversity and the positive impact it brings to all our school communities.”
As the debate rages on, all eyes will be on the upcoming release of data for the 2025-26 academic year later this month, which is expected to shed further light on this contentious issue.
