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Schools must curb immigrant pupils' anti-German attitudes, Böhmer says

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Schools must curb immigrant pupils' anti-German attitudes, Böhmer says
Photo: DPA

City officials in Berlin must take action against anti-German views among students with immigrant backgrounds, Germany’s commissioner for integration Maria Böhmer said on Friday.

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“We must take the reports from Berlin schools seriously,” the conservative politician told daily Passauer Neue Presse. “It is obviously no longer an isolated incident that students and teachers are forced to hear anti-German statements.”

It is intolerable that German students and teachers might feel hectored in this way, she told the paper.

German is the official language in schools, which “must be a matter of course,” she said.

When just one language is spoken, conflicts that could arise from social exclusion or misunderstandings are avoided.

Therefore schools with a high number of students from immigrant families need more support, she said.

“They need more money, more teachers and school social workers, in addition to more time so they can offer full-time education,” Böhmer added.

Other local initiatives, such as integration guides, can also help bring immigrants out of isolation and into the German education system, she said.

DAPD/ka

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