A number has shocked Germany in recent weeks: 40 first-graders are left at a school in Ludwigshafen (Rhineland-Palatinate). The principal described the number as “frightening”. In the previous year there were already 23 or 24 children who did not make the leap to the second grade. But this year the number is “extremely high”.
The rector says that at the Gräfenauschule in the Hemshof district, “about 98 percent of the children have always had a migration background”. Those who grow up in the troubled district do not necessarily learn German, according to the rector.
“Most of the children don’t speak German at all or only poorly”
Nathalie Blok, mother of six-year-old Yannick, who is in first grade, also observes this. She moved to Germany with her husband from the Netherlands – partly because of the better school system. The mother says yes “Bild” newspaper : “Most of the children don’t speak German at all or only poorly. Many teachers are multilingual and speak Turkish or Albanian to the kids.”
According to the mother, almost all children in her child’s class were foreign. Your son will be transferred. But not many others.
In the case of the rector, the situation goes to the substance: “There are moments when I say: ‘Whoa, I can’t do anything about that,'” she says. But she is with a college that also has to face the situation every day. “I want to support these people and not stick my head in the sand. As long as I have the strength, I will fight for this school.”
An isolated case? “Lots of Ludwigshafens slumber under the covers”
The Gräfenau school is probably not an isolated case: “In Ludwigshafen, the grievances in the school system are visible as if under a magnifying glass,” says Lars Lamowski, state chairman of the Education and Training Association (VBE). The head of the elementary school speaks of the “tip of the iceberg”. “Lots of Ludwigshafens are slumbering under the covers.”
