Constitutional Court sees discrimination in Dutch language test for people integrating | Interior

Approximately 26,000 people integrating, spread over 113 locations in Flanders, follow a course ‘Dutch as a Second Language’ (NT2). About half do so voluntarily, the other half follow a compulsory trajectory.

Until now, each Center for Adult Education (CVO) and Ligo Center for Basic Education (CBE) had its own course and its own Dutch test. From September, all non-native speakers will take a standardized test, although it is questionable whether that date will be met.

In addition, a registration fee of 180 euros will also be introduced. In contrast to the voluntary ones, the compulsory participants are not entitled to an exemption or reduction of that registration fee.

Various centers for adult basic education, the vzw Vlaams Netwerk tegen Poverty, the vzw Vluchtelingenwerk Vlaanderen and the trade union ACV therefore went to the Constitutional Court against the new rules.

The Court now rules that the exclusion of compulsory integration persons from social corrections is discriminatory. The judges point out that both compulsory and voluntary integrators can find themselves in a difficult socio-economic situation. The difference in treatment is not reasonably justified. “And this is all the less so now that indirect discrimination on the basis of nationality results from this, given the fact that a much higher percentage of foreign nationals are obliged to follow an integration process,” can be read in the judgment. The articles in question will therefore be destroyed.

For Education Minister Ben Weyts, the glass is half full. “The Constitutional Court decided today that the NT2 test is not a violation of educational freedom,” he concludes. According to him, the problem with the registration fee is not insurmountable: “I hope that we can now definitively turn the page and come to a solution for the registration fee. We now have to move forward together to make integration a success.”

Ligo, the Centers for Basic Education, is one of the complainants and is therefore pleased with the judgment. The registration fee is a major barrier, says the organization. “While there is certainly no lack of motivation. They want to learn Dutch, find a job, be able to take care of their children, and so on. So we are happy that we were able to stop the registration fee.”

Johan Danen van Groen also talks about an unnecessary obstacle. “If we want newcomers to learn Dutch, it is up to the Flemish government to remove as many barriers as possible,” he says. “By making language tests payable, she did just the opposite. It is good that the Court is now removing that extra obstacle.”