[EDLING:1197] Schools in Berlin with a "German-only" language rule accused of discrimination

[Francis M Hult]

via lg-policy...

> German language rule upsets Turks
> By Kate Connolly in Berlin
> 
> (Filed: 26/01/2006)
> 
> Schools in Berlin with a "German-only" language rule and large numbers of
> foreign pupils have been accused of discrimination.
> 
> 
> Six secondary schools have banned all languages except German in the
> classroom, playground and on school trips to speed integration. The Union
> of Teachers voted this week to expand the policy nationally. In some
> schools up to 90 per cent of the pupils are non-German. The rule has been
> criticised by some politicians and Turkish groups who say it discriminates
> against the pupils and violates the constitution.
> 
> The Turkish Union, which represents Germany's largest ethnic minority,
> said the policy would create resentment and should be scrapped. "The
> learning and use of German is very important but by forbidding something
> you only achieve the opposite effect to the one you wanted,"  said Eren
> nsal, its spokesman. "Children should not be forbidden from talking in
> their mother tongue."
> 
> Claudia Roth, the leader of the Green Party, said the policy would hamper
> integration. "Integration is not going to happen if you impose such rules
> on people's break-times," she said. But the headmistress of the Herbert
> Hoover school, in Wedding, north Berlin, which was the first to adopt the
> rule, said her school attracted Turkish parents precisely because of the
> policy. "Those who want jobs need to be able to speak German well," Jutta
> Steinkamp said.
> 
> Those pupils heard speaking their own language were "politely
> reprimanded", she said. But no one was punished unless they used their
> mother tongues to "aggressively attack pupils or teachers". The pupils
> defended the German-only policy yesterday. "We need German,"  said a
> 16-year-old Turkish girl. "We all come from a variety of different
> countries, and we speak German when we're all together, even if your own
> language slips out from time to time."