The Neukölln district office should check whether an Arabic school can be set up in the district (symbol image) Photo: dpa
By Johannes Malinowski
Can Neukölln’s students soon also learn in Arabic?
The district assembly (BVV) accepted a corresponding motion by the Greens on Wednesday evening (31 yes, 18 no votes). A bilingual, i.e. bilingual, offer in Standard Arabic from the seventh grade is planned.
The district office is now to examine the extent to which a school with an Arabic language focus can be set up. If the test is positive, the authority must draw up a concept.
The application provides for an integrated secondary school or the high school part of a community school. Left and SPD support the project. The “Berliner Morgenpost” reported first.
The AfD is against the Arab school and fears that existing parallel societies will become entrenched. The CDU expresses concerns. “We recognize the need for Arabic lessons, but we are not in favor of an independent school,” says parliamentary group leader Markus Oegel (59).
Instead, his parliamentary group proposes an elective subject in Arabic. “From our point of view, that would even be an advantage in terms of integration policy if teachers did not come from that parallel society.” The AfD’s argument was nonsense.
Since education is a state matter, the school administration would have to agree to the establishment of an Arab school anyway. In Berlin, more than 150,000 people speak Arabic, around 25,000 of them in Neukölln.