2023-12-10 13:18:00
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 expire. So we are certainly not going to extend them. In addition, the summer courses are part of our efforts to strengthen the essentials: Dutch and maths. Support French-speaking initiatives would go once morest 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 Education Alderman Nicolas Kuczynski (UF). “Bilingualism is an asset, not allowing it is not in the best interests of the child. It is a political decision, and it is deplorable.” The municipality plans to offer some sort of summer language camps, which might be given in French.
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