2023-12-10 13:30:25
Flemish Minister of Education Ben Weyts (N-VA) will not authorize the organization of summer courses in French in the municipalities with facilities in Flanders, he indicated on Sunday in a press release, concerning a project in Rhode-Saint-Genèse.
This municipality in Flemish Brabant benefits, like other municipalities with facilities, from an exception in the language legislation allowing nursery and primary education to be organized in French. Sint-Genesius-Rode wants to add summer courses, but Minister Weyts demands that these courses be given in Dutch only. “The facilities are set to be extinguished. So we’re definitely not going to expand them. In addition, the summer courses are part of our efforts to strengthen the essentials: Dutch and maths. Supporting French-speaking initiatives would go against the basic principles of these summer courses“, said Ben Weyts in a press release.
The municipal authorities deplored this refusal. “If Dutch-speaking parents want their child to also learn French during the summer, why should this not be allowed?“, asks the alderman for Education, Nicolas Kuczynski (UF). “Bilingualism is an asset, not allowing it is not in the child’s best interests. It’s a political decision, and it’s deplorable“. The municipality plans to offer some sort of summer language camps, which could be given in French.
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