Rt, Hon. Damian Hinds, MP, who served as Secretary of State for Education from 2018 to 2019, visited City Lit on Monday 2 March 2020 to meet with students and staff, and praised the college for "leading by example".
During a tour of the college, Mr Hinds met students from the inclusive choir, a lipreading class and an English for deaf people class, commenting, “I was delighted to see first hand the great work City Lit is doing, especially their work to help overcome barriers to learning. It clearly provides a flexible, accessible and welcoming learning environment.”
City Lit offers over 6,000 short and part-time courses to over 30,000 Londoners from across the capital, including courses in visual and performing arts, languages, humanities and social sciences, along with more specialist areas such as deaf education, speech therapy and courses for people with learning difficulties.
Phil Chamberlain, Executive Director External Engagement at City Lit, led Mr Hinds on a tour of the college, and said: “It’s great that Damian has had the opportunity to see the breadth of courses we offer. It was inspiring to see a politician so engaged in what we do and taking time to speak to and learn more about our students. It is so important for parliamentarians to understand the importance of adult education, and that our students come from all walks of life to learn something new and to improve their wellbeing and skills.”
Mr Hinds also met with Dame Moira Gibb, Chair of City Lit’s Board of Governors, and Vice Principal Wendy McKaig during his visit.
In his capacity of Secretary of State for Education, Mr Hinds also joined City Lit at Houses of Parliament in November 2018 for the launch of the #HearMyLips lipreading campaign during which he commented, so this was another opportunity for him to see this vital work in action.
Photo by Dominic Harris
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