13 February 2007

BRUSSELS — At the primary schools located in the centre of Antwerp between Schelde and Singel, two out of every three students don’t speak Dutch at home. An increasing number of students from Dutch-speaking families go to schools outside of the city centre.

Five years ago the percentage of downtown primary school students who spoke a different language at home was 60 percent. In 2005 it was already 65 percent or two thirds, De Standaard reports.

The trend is true for the whole city in general. In the whole of Antwerp, from 2002 to 2005 the number of children who don’t speak Dutch to their parents grew from 37 to 44 percent.

One of the reasons behind the rapid increase is that immigrant parents have more children than locals. Young immigrants also still tend to bring a marriage partner over from their country of origin, these “import brides” rarely speak Dutch of course.

Research shows that the number of students at a disadvantage in terms of learning opportunities in on the rise. The children with fewer opportunities are those living in poorer conditions or whose mother has a low level of education.

[Copyright Expatica News 2007]

Subject: Belgian news