alarming knowledge of German: 44% of the Viennese first graders affected

<p> <strong> alarming knowledge of German: 44% of the Viennese first graders affected </strong> </p>

In Vienna, a current request to City Councilor Christoph Return shows that almost half of the first graders have difficulty following lessons. Of the 18,722 students who were enrolled in a public elementary school on October 1, 8,342, which corresponds to 44.6 percent, came to the "extraordinary status". This means that you do not have enough knowledge of German to follow the lessons.

The increase in numbers is significant, the value was still about 36 percent somewhere else at the beginning of the school year 22/23. Return sees part of the problem in international crises, especially the refugee movements from Syria and Ukraine. Nevertheless, 61 percent of the first graders with "extraordinary status" were born in Austria. There are also many Austrian citizens among these: 1,959. On average, these students had attended kindergarten for 2.14 years, which indicates a comprehensive topic.

criticism from politics

The political reactions to these numbers are very different. Dominik Nepp, the chairman of the Vienna FPÖ, blames educational city council return for the grievances and demands a guarantee that return will not work as an education minister. Furthermore, a mandatory language screening for children aged four years is required.

Harald Zierfuß from the ÖVP describes the Situation as "incredible". In several districts of Vienna, the proportion of first graders who do not speak sufficiently German would be even over 50 percent-in Vienna Margaret with alarming 73.8 percent. Those responsible are accused of failing to promote German gardens through insufficient German funding. The ÖVP has therefore proposed concrete measures, such as a mandatory kindergarten visit for children with a need for German.

reactions and suggestions for solutions

The Viennese Greens emphasize that there is a "system failure" and demands that vice -mayor return not only act with temporary solutions such as summer German courses. You want every institution to receive fixed language support forces with high need for language support.

In order to meet the significantly grown need for German funding, return has decided to increase the number of free summer German courses by 1,000, so that a total of 4,900 places are now available. This also includes 400 places for children who are in the last year before school.

The discussion about a mandatory second kindergarten year was initiated by Neos boss Beate Meinl-Reisinger, supported by AMS boss Johannes Kopf, who also put a comprehensive focus on language support. Eva-Maria Holzleitner from the SPÖ emphasizes the need for corresponding financial resources, but shows understanding for the urgency of this measure.