A/49/415/Add.1
English
Page 14
"The minorities are entitled, in accordance with applicable laws, to
establish general and adult education (including vocational) schools and
kindergartens."
67. It was pointed out that the members of the German minority were fluent in
German and also spoke Danish. The local school and kindergarten associations in
the Deutscher Schul- und Sprachverein (German Schools and Language Association)
maintained 18 private schools of various types, as well as 25 kindergartens for
the German minority. The teaching language in the schools was German, but a
wide-ranging education in Danish language and literature was obligatory and,
along with German, a compulsory examination subject. The curricula must
guarantee the same standard of education as we provided in Danish state schools.
68. The Deutsches Gymnasium (German upper secondary school), in keeping with
the Danish education system, caters for classes 10 to 12 (with subject-based
teaching). The teaching language is German and there are compulsory classes in
Danish language and literature: technical Danish vocabulary is also taught,
particularly in the sciences. Gymnasium studies lead to the Danish "student
exam", which, by ordinance of the Ministry of Culture of the Land of
Schleswig-Holstein, is recognized throughout Germany as a school-leaving and
university entrance qualification (providing an appropriate range of subjects
has been covered). The Gymnasium has a section for boarders and is under the
supervision of the Danish Ministry of Education, which gives the private German
schools - and all other private schools in the country - a government grant for
each pupil amounting in 1993 to 73 per cent (by 1995 75 per cent) of the cost of
keeping one pupil at a state school in 1991. Thanks to a special government
grant for German-minority schools to go towards meeting the cost of nativespeaker-standard bilingual instruction, the total government grant increased in
1993 to about 84 per cent of the cost incurred by one pupil at a state school in
1991. In addition, the Government of Denmark gives grants that go towards the
cost of school transportation.
69. As far as the Danish minority in Germany is concerned, it was stated that
all its members understood Danish and most of them spoke it as well, while they
were also all fluent in German. In rural areas sections of the Danish minority
spoke "plattdeutsch", a Low German regional dialect; in areas right on the
border, some also addressed their German neighbours in Sonderjysk, a Danish
regional dialect. The Danish minority also published a Danish-language daily
newspaper, entitled Flensborg Avis, which contains a German section. In
addition, Flensborg Avis held shares in Radio Schleswig-Holstein, a private
radio station; the editors put together a daily news programme in Danish, which
was broadcast on Radio Schleswig-Holstein. The minority saw no need to have
other media as several Danish television and radio channels could be received in
the settlement area and subscriptions were readily available to Danish
newspapers and periodicals.
70. The sponsor of school and kindergarten activities is the Dansk
Skoleforening for Sydlesvig (Danish Schools Association in South Schleswig),
which currently runs 53 schools of different types and 63 kindergartens. The
schools include primary and junior secondary schools, four secondary-modern
schools and a grammar school as well as a boarding school and a residential
adult education college. The language of instruction is Danish, except in the
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