Language dispute in Lower Saxony: Turkish instead of German in the classroom?

Language dispute in Lower Saxony: Turkish instead of German in the classroom?

A revolutionary decision in Lower Saxony's education policy is currently causing heated debates: The new decree from Education Minister Julia Willie Hamburg (38, Green) stipulates that in the future students should increasingly be taught in their native language, in addition to regular lessons. This means that languages ​​such as Turkish, Arabic or Ukrainian could soon become part of the curriculum. But this multi-cultural plan has come under massive criticism Picture reported.

Critical voices, including CDU education expert Christian Fühner (37), argue that this decision is at the expense of German lessons. Fühner described the state government's priorities as wrong because funding for the German language was severely cut. In particular, hours for German as a foreign language have been reduced, and special language learning classes are no longer allowed to be set up separately. Against this background, some people are wondering whether the red-green state government should not rather further develop the students' German skills.

Teaching supplies and resources

In addition to the criticism of the content of the multi-cultural plans, the organizational feasibility is also questioned. After all, the teaching provision in Lower Saxony is currently only 96.9 percent. This means that a significant proportion of teaching hours remain unfilled. If additional lessons are offered in other languages, the need for qualified teachers increases. According to Fühner, however, there is already a lack of enough trained teachers to close the existing gaps.

Controversy over integration

Heinz-Peter Meidinger (70), honorary president of the German Teachers' Association, raises another point of criticism. He warns that the additional burden placed on students by teaching them in their native language could jeopardize integration. He fears that parallel societies will be promoted instead of promoting the merging of cultures. Meidinger remains firm: the German language is the key to integration, and the current plans are a step in the wrong direction.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Culture defends itself against the criticism and emphasizes that multilingualism does not compete with the promotion of the German language. On the contrary, it is of the opinion that learning the German language is based on a multilingual basis and remains a central task of educational work, as a spokeswoman for the ministry said Picture explained.

The discussion about the school policy innovations remains explosive as those involved look for a way to meet both the needs of the students and the demands for greater integration.