For more and more students, German authorities are organizing lessons at state schools in their parents' native language. At the same time, there is less interest in teaching foreign languages offered by the consulates of some countries of origin - also in order to strengthen ties to the old home of parents or grandparents.
This optional "consular education" for students takes place in public schools but is organized and paid by the countries of origin themselves. It was introduced in 1964 with the aim of preparing the children of "guest workers" for their return home. In Baden-Württemberg, where consulate education is offered in 14 languages, the number of participating students has fallen by around 6,500 since the 2016/2017 school year, bringing the total to 35,417.
As the "Media Service Integration" has now found out, only Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Schleswig-Holstein, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia now offer no state-organized lessons in their native language.
In Bavaria, he was abolished ten years ago "in favor of an intensification of German funding". The Baden-Württemberg Minister of Education Susanne Eisenmann (CDU) told the media service, the promotion of German skills have given the increasing number of children with immigrant background in the schools priority.
Multilingual education as an advantage
Experts of the German Council of German Foundations for Integration and Migration (SVR) consider this approach to be wrong. Simon Morris-Lange, deputy head of the SVR research area, points to research carried out as part of a multi-year pilot project to promote children and young people with a migrant background. These had shown that "native-language education does not affect the acquisition of the German language".
SVR researcher Mohini Lokhande points to neurobiological studies. These even suggested that multilingual education "promotes cognitive skills, which is related to the plasticity of the brain and the interconnectedness of brain areas." According to Lokhande, children who grow up with more than one language could later learn a third language more easily. They are also at non-linguistic puzzles in the advantage. Older adults who have spoken several languages as children develop, according to their statements, on average, later than other people a dementia.
Maybe more than just language lessons
According to the Education Senate, seven consulates in Berlin currently offer instruction in the language of origin. A total of 1733 students take this offer was. Two years ago, there were still 2448 students who used the consular education.
The fact that Berlin and other federal states are expanding their own offer also has something to do with the fact that, especially in Turkish consulate education, political fear is feared which could run counter to integration.
Arabic lessons may not be just about preparing the children for a return that may be due someday. Government education also offers refugee parents who are looking for Arabic lessons for their children an alternative to the offerings of the mosque associations.
Teaching in 23 languages
Although the number of Arab immigrants has increased in recent years, there has been virtually no consulate offer for Arab children. Only Tunisia offers Arabic lessons in a few locations. In Berlin, 201 children with an Arabic migration background attend the lessons in their native language, which the school board of the capital recently offers.
The most populated is the most populous state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW). In addition to consular instruction, there are also state-organized lessons in 23 languages. As reported by the Media Service Integration, citing the Ministry of Education of North Rhine-Westphalia, there are currently almost 97,800 students taking part in the lessons in their native language. Among them, the Turks, with almost 44,000 pupils, form the largest group. 14,550 students take part in the state Arabic lessons. Nearly 10,800 children and adolescents receive language lessons in Russian.