Oslo: 34% of schools have immigrant majority

The Oslo education department published data this week about the city's schools. Of the 51,378 students in elementary schools this year, 19,602 were immigrants, which is 38%. About 11,975 of them get separate Norwegian classes, and about 4,285 get mother tongue instruction and/or bilingual instruction, available in 23 languages

48 of the city's 138 schools have more than 50% immigrants in their student body, which is 34%. Two years ago there were 37 such schools, seven years ago there were just 21. Five schools have more than 90% immigrants.

This data includes immigrants from Western countries. A list of the schools and percentage of immigrants is available here (XLS, Norwegian)

There were many responses to this, which I summarize below.

Astrid Søgnen, Oslo education department:
A student is a student regardless of the parent's economic and cultural capital, and there's no problem with schools being dominated by immigrants. You can't equate immigrant students and poor school performance. Many of the immigrant students have poor Norwegian when they begin school, but it's the most important thing is for them to get good education so they'll get to a good level. In a multicultural city, the most ideal is for students to go to school where several nationalities meet.

John Sørland, head of Oslo's parent committee:
Parents look at how many immigrants the school has when choosing a school for their kids. Schools with almost all immigrant students won't attract Norwegian speakers, even if there are parents who think it's enriching. Parents think they do live in Norway after all and their children should be acquainted with Norwegian values at school. Immigrants themselves don't want their children to go to a "minority school". However, in some schools immigrant students are such a small group that they're invisible and don't get the proper attention.

Torger Ødegaard, city council, education:
Oslo is able to compensate for a student's immigrant background, more than in other places. A student is a student and we will educate him. We have high ambitions for our students, whether they are called Omar or Per. Ideally all schools should have the same mix, but this is not an ideal world and it's not possible to change the city's population composition. If a school succeeds, it will enable its students to be more socially mobile. The city is not going to regulate how many immigrants go to any school.

Aslam Ahsan, head of the resource center for Pakistani children:
It is impossible to have immigrants go to immigrant schools, live in immigrant neighborhoods and work in immigrant jobs. There are more and more signs of ghettofication, how will it be in 10 years? There shouldn't be more than 50% immigrants in a school, for good integration. The school should ideally reflect the city's population. National tests show an alarmingly poor knowledge of Norwegian at immigrant dominated schools. Oslo municipality should actively move immigrants into ethnic Norwegian dominated areas, and bus immigrant students to schools with a majority of ethnic Norwegians. Schools should fail students who don't know Norwegian, until they get better, and not experiment with weak students.

Khalid Mahmood, Oslo municipality politician:
The government should entice teachers to come and work in schools with more than 25% immigrant students. Today people are afraid that such schools have a low educational level and they flee them. He doubts it's possible to reverse the trend, saying that Oslo is a divided city - it's cheaper to live on the west side, and many immigrant families only have one parent working. Immigrant parents care about their children's education. Some schools have troubles bringing parents to PTA meetings, and there the parents should be told that they are responsible for their children's edcuation and that it's not eough to bring them to school.

Christian Tybring-Gjedde, parliament member, Frp:
Immigrants are responsible for doing something about ghettofication. There are many good job and cheap houses outside Oslo. Living in Oslo is not a right. Immigrant must choose not to live in ghetto areas if they want to be part of society, and an apartment there is more expensive than other places in the country. Immigrants should adapt to Norway and not the other way around. Immigrants should try to be as Norwegian as possible, not watch TV or read newspapers from their homeland. Kids should not be sent to koran school to memorize the koran, they should use the time to play instead. When he spent a few years in America he was barely in touch with what happened in Norway, trying to become as American as possible.

Athar Alie, head of the Norwegian immigrant forum:
The problem is not the percent of immigrant, but how many resources the schools get. The problem is that schools favor typical "Norwegian" subjects and ignore the immigrant children's cultural capital. Norwegian children have an advantage because Norwegian language and knowledge is appreciated. Children should be taught more about their homelands and show that their knowledge is contributive as well.

Karin Eger, principal at Gamlebyen school (with 70% immigrant students):
We might be what the rest of Norway will look like in 30 years. We are the future. The school has good results compared to Oslo schools, and above average compared to the national scores. Having a majority of immigrant children is not a problem. She thinks it takes 4-7 years to learn a language well. Since there are so many languages spoken at the school, Norwegian is the language of communication. The school must use non-verbal methods as well as concentrate on reading and reading comprehension. Therefore the school focuses on drawing, dancing and the library.

Sources: TV2 1, 2; Dagbladet 1, 2, 3, 4 ; Oslo education department (Norwegian)