Several municipalities want to mix pupils for increased integration

Vivalla in Örebro is classified by the police as a particularly vulnerable area. Two years ago, the high school at the Vivalla school was closed after unrest. The students were instead sent to four schools in the inner city.

One of those who started 7th at the time was Majsa Kassem, 14 years old. Today she goes to grade 9.

- I was worried about not fitting in, but it went really well. The only trouble is that it is a twenty minute bus ride every day.

In recent years, several municipalities have closed schools that have not worked. In Örebro, research has also been funded to find out if school results and integration are improving.

The result will not come until two years from now, but the school management thinks they see a difference.

- The students say in their evaluations that things have calmed down and that they have some peace of mind, says Chris Gelinder, principal at Gumaelius school in central Örebro.

The biggest challenge has been reaching all parents.

- We can't expect them to read the weekly letter, we may have to call them and have interpreters. For parents' involvement, it is important for the students to do well, says Chris Gelinder.

Several municipalities with schools in particularly vulnerable areas, with which SVT spoke, say that they are looking at closures or other solutions to mix students from different areas and break segregation.

Malmö has its own experience from the closure of the high school in Rosengård.

- First and foremost, we try to develop our schools, answers Malmö primary school principal Anders Malmquist. But we do not rule out the closure of high schools that underperform over time.

In Landskrona, schools have been merged previously but now invested in free bus passes to encourage students to voluntarily choose other schools to increase integration.

- Our students in the particularly vulnerable areas to a large extent choose another school. We are particularly proud that the feared effect of declining student results did not appear when the students from the vulnerable parts of the city chose to commute to schools in the church villages, says Elof Hansjons (L), municipal council and chair of the education board.

Next year, Uppsala will work out a plan to reduce segregation and increase equality within the municipality.

But for many students, the Gottsunda School is a safe point in the district, says municipal councilor Helena Hedman Skoglund (L).

- We work with extra financial compensation through structural grants and have invested in teacher assistants and social workers in the school. The school attracts students from other parts of the city through its football profile and equestrian profile.

Ninth-grader Majsa Kassem in Örebro now dreams of becoming a doctor.

- I think if I had stayed in the Vivalla school I would not have been able to develop this far. If the lesson was 60 minutes there, then 50 minutes were spent managing the blow. That's not it now.