‘Integration’ in ‘multicultural’ Austria: A child forced to learn Arabic because his classmates don’t speak German
The reality of mass immigration once again clashes with common sense in Austria. At a school in Vienna’s Alsergrund district, a first-grade student has started learning Arabic on his own initiative because he can barely communicate in class: only three out of the 25 students speak German. This was reported by the boy’s grandfather in a column published this Monday in the local outlet Heute.at.
‘During recess and after school, the only language spoken is “the foreign one”,’ the grandfather recounted. ‘How else is he supposed to communicate with his classmates?’ he added.
This is not an isolated case. The principal of a primary school in Alsergrund stated in April that three-quarters of the 170 students do not have German as their native language, and that 30% do not speak it at all. In many cases, school staff are forced to use interpreters to communicate with parents, who don’t even understand that school attendance is mandatory.
In addition to language barriers, teachers are warning about a rise in conflicts and violence, mostly involving Syrian students. There have been reports of assaults in the classroom and troubling incidents during Ramadan: school-age students fast to avoid being labeled as ‘losers’, which has led to fainting.
The cultural shift also affects the school cafeteria. In March, Heute.at reported that a school in Alsergrund had removed pork from the school menu, a decision made to avoid Muslim children feeling excluded.
A similar trend is spreading across Germany. In cities like Berlin and Düsseldorf, various kindergartens have removed pork out of ‘consideration’ for Muslim children. As a spokesperson for Caritas Düsseldorf explained to Rheinische Post, ‘it’s not good for group dynamics’ if some children are given a different menu, so German children must forgo pork in the interest of ‘cohesion.’
Meanwhile, native residents are being forced to adapt to the new normal—even if that means learning Arabic in their first year of school.
