Denmark: Schools deal with Gaza war

Denmark: Schools deal with Gaza war


Danish schools with many Palestinian children got the war in Gaza very close up.  A school in Copenhagen devoted extra teachers.

The Arab TV Channel al-Jazeera is on in the living room, and at the dinner table mother and father probably look concerned.

The war in Gaza fill much of the consciousness of children with Palestinian background, and that is noticed by teachers in several Danish public schools.

At Klostervænget School in Copenhagen, principal Karen Margrethe Grønlund never experienced a conflict in the past which occupied the students so much.  97% of the students have non-Danish backgrounds.

"I can't come into a class these days, without the children asking me what I think.  It fills up their minds, and we therefore asked all the teachers to talk with the students about it," says Karen Margrethe Grønlund, who devoted extra teachers to speak with the students in class.

At Abildgård School in the Odense neighborhood of Vollsmose principal Allan Feldskou also urged his teachers to be more aware of how the Palestinian children in particular are affected by the conflict in Gaza.

"We can feel that particularly with the families who have relatives in Gaza, it occupies them a lot.  The children probably experience their parents unsuccessfully attempting to make contact with family members in the war zone and it makes an impression.  I see that the children are concerned and that they feel a certain powerlessness.  They ask: why do the adults do it?  Why don't the adults stop?" says principal Allan Feldskou.

Source: Kristeligt Dagblad (Danish)

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