LANGUAGES have been snubbed by worrying numbers of students since the Government gave the official green light for them to be avoided.

From this September 14 and 15-year-olds no longer have to study modern foreign languages and education bosses are already "concerned" at the drop in interest.

There will be 12 per cent fewer Lancashire students from this September taking languages in secondary schools, a drop from 8633 to 7597. And two thirds of Lancashire high schools have already dropped languages as a compulsory subject.

Even this year's GCSE results nationally predicted the fall. French and German suffered the greatest percentage drop in the number of candidates: 3.9 per cent and 2.9 per cent.

But education bosses issued a clear warning to students today: "Languages are very important".

The Conservative government first made languages compulsory for all GCSE-age students in 1991. Before then around a third of pupils nationally took exams in at least one language at the age of 16.

Dave Hollings, executive member for education at Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council, remains up beat about the attraction of modern foreign language study.

He said: "We don't know what impact this will have. We hope able students will continue to take languages up to 16. It is very important to have a foreign language, even just the basics. It makes life so much easier abroad and people are so much more willing to help you. The authority will continue to be keen to encourage language study."

But at Lancashire County Council, which was chosen last year as one of the Government's 19 pioneering pathfinder authorities looking at various new ways of teaching foreign languages at Key Stage 2, there are clear reasons why students are put off taking languages.

A Lancashire County Council spokesman said: "We are concerned. Although gaining a high grade in a language GCSE is regarded as more challenging that in many other subjects, young people need to be aware that having foreign language skills can be very important for a wide range of careers as well as more generally for life, especially travel."

Nigel Jepson of the Lancashire Secondary Heads Association said the move to drop compulsory language study was "disappointing".

Blackburn College's Carol Yates, 30, of Darwen, got one of the top five scores in the country in French GCSE this year. She said: "Languages are really important not just for holidays but as an interest."