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There are more than 800 children of asylum seekers in Manchester distributed in more than 80 schools across the city including those in Moston, Harpurhey, Blackley and Cheetham.

The children speak a total of 45 languages with the largest groups being Czech, Somali, Farsi, Albanian and Arabic speakers.

There are also small numbers who speak Amharic, Assyrian, Brawa, Dari, Igbo, Russian, Polish, French and Portuguese.

Manchester's Ethnic Minority Achievement Service (EMAS) provides regular support to ethnic minority pupils as well as providing interpreters through a special grant provided by the Department for Education and Skills.

Last year this grant was worth ?500 per child and Manchester City Council is hoping that an application for further funds this year will at least match the amount received last time.

Pinaki Ghoshal, Head of EMAS, explained that finding interpreters for so many languages had not been easy.

He said: " In the last 12 months we have employed 57 interpreters both full and part-time. We have been fortunate as Manchester is a cosmopolitan city with several universities and has attracted people from all over the world.

"Although our staff can speak some 35 languages we still require more interpreters particularly in Czech, Romanian, Portuguese, Farsi, Dari, Serbian, Somali and Brawa."

Anyone able to offer their services as interpreters are invited to contact EMAS on 273 4232 for details."