Latin and Greek off syllabus

Latin and Greek are being dropped from the syllabus by the country's largest examination board, it emerged today.

Classics teachers are outraged after it was revealed the Assessment and Qualifications Alliance (AQA) will cease to examine in both subjects after 2006. Only one board, the Oxford, Cambridge and RSA will now offer Latin and Greek at GCSE and A-level.

Paul Saunders, who sits on AQA's own advisory committee and teaches classics at Rochester Girls' Grammar School in Kent, said the subjects were abandoned without consultation. "The decision came as a bombshell," he said. "It was never even discussed at the committee."

Peter Jones, of the National Coordinating Committee for Classics, said: "What about other minority subjects like Mandarin Chinese? Is it going to drop these too?"

More than 5,000 students took exams in Latin and Greek last year. AQA declined to comment.