A North-South divide is opening up in the study of modern foreign languages at GCSE, figures suggest.

In more than 100 of the 150 local authorities in England fewer than half of 16-year-olds took a GCSE in a modern foreign language. In ten areas, mostly in the North, more than three quarters of teenagers are dropping language study at GCSE, according to the Department for Children, Schools and Families.

Michael Gove, the Shadow Children’s Secretary, said that it was further evidence of a class divide. “Once again it is the poorest areas that are missing out as the opportunity gap between the fortunate and the forgotten widens,” he said.

Foreign language lessons became optional for 14 to 16-year-olds in 2004. Wealthier areas in the South have the highest take-up overall, but the top authority is Hounslow, West London, where 67.9 per cent took a modern language, a figure boosted by pupils studying home languages such as Urdu.

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