[EDLING:2288] Swedish School Backtracks on Language Ban

[Francis M Hult]

Via lgpolicy...

> School backtracks on language ban 
> 
> Published: 25th January 2007 10:11 CET 
> 
> Staff at Gustav Adolf School in the southern town of Landskrona have 
> now retracted a controversial ban on the use of languages other than 
> Swedish on school premises. Just days after its introduction the 
> principal has downgraded the ban to a "main rule". Consequently pupils 
> will now be allowed to speak their native languages during breaks. But, 
> in a new measure, pupils will have to pass two security guards when 
> entering the school. 
> 
> On Saturday it was revealed that the management of the school had 
> decided that only Swedish could be spoken on school premises. Almost 
> half of the pupils at the school come from an immigrant background. The 
> ban was introduced following a number of incidents in which staff and 
> pupils felt they had been insulted in languages they did not 
> understand. Principal Patrik Helgesson explained the new move on the 
> school's website. "In order for staff at the school to be able to 
> prevent breaches of school regulations, speaking Swedish is to be a 
> main rule," he wrote. 
> 
> Pupil's will however be permitted to speak their native languages 
> during breaks, provided that staff and other pupils are not excluded 
> from discussions. "If somebody goes over to a group that is speaking a 
> language that person doesn't understand, it is quite natural to make 
> use of a common language," district manager Lisbeth Månsson told 
> Helsingborgs Dagblad.  
> 
> Månsson does not think the school has backed down from its previous 
> decision. "I would prefer to say that we have clarified this part of 
> the regulations," she said.  Apart from tougher language requirements, 
> pupils will now also have to knock on the front door before being let 
> in to the school, according to newspaper Skånska Dagbladet. The school 
> has decided to place two security guards from the local council for 
> crime prevention inside its main entrance. 
> 
> TT/The Local