A/HRC/20/26/Add.1 initiatives across the country. Additionally, to ensure genuine equal opportunities for persons from a migrant background, German language courses provided by public institutions should complement existing language examinations. Education 77. The Independent Expert welcomes the initiatives adopted by the Government to promote intercultural understanding in schools, such as the “Interkulturelles Zentrum” brochure and the “Multilingualism and Interculturality - an Opportunity” campaign, aimed at providing educational material with teaching examples for intercultural learning, communication and conflict solution. 78. The Austrian education system is complex and fragmented into streams, however. Specialized streams of education can impede the full inclusion of some minorities, migrants or students with disabilities in mainstream cultural life. After kindergarten, pupils are in general sent either to an “ordinary” primary school or to a special school (“Sonderschule”, mostly for those with learning disabilities). After primary school and depending on grades, they are sent either to a general secondary school (four years) or to an academic secondary school (eight years), which after successful completion allows for enrolment at a university or for other tertiary studies. After general secondary school or the first four years at an academic secondary school, students can continue their education at either the higher level of an academic secondary school (four years); or a medium-level vocational school (generally three to four years); or a higher-level vocational school (five years), the successful completion of which also qualifies students for tertiary education; or a vocational training school, which also allows access to university studies, if the student opts for and passes the final examination.61 79. According to some of those interviewed, this bifurcation in schooling first following kindergarten and then following primary school indirectly segregates students on the basis of social attributes. Dividing up students at an early age into two school types leads to a fundamental lack of equal opportunities in basic as well as higher education and impedes integration amongst students from different ethnic, national and religious backgrounds.62 80. The Turkish migrant community is a case in point. Migration from Turkey to Austria on a significant scale started in the early 1960s, in response to market demands for foreign manpower. After 1973, migration continued mostly in the context of family reunification. Today, about 183,000 persons of Turkish origin, i.e. Turkish nationals and persons with Austrian citizenship born in Turkey, live in Austria. The majority live in Vienna (73,200), followed by Lower Austria (25,200) and Upper Austria (22,900). 63 81. Members of the Turkish community face structural obstacles that hamper their personal development from an early age. This is particularly the case after primary school when immigrant children with a weaker command of German are most often separated and educated in “special schools” for children with learning difficulties, although this is contrary to legal provisions. Sixty-eight per cent of Turkish migrants have not completed school beyond the compulsory level, and they tend to perform less well in school than their German-speaking counterparts and bilingual students belonging to other linguistic communities. With an unemployment rate of approximately 14 per cent, Turkish 61 62 63 18 http://www.bmukk.gv.at/medienpool/9043/bw_engl.pdf Initiative Human Rights. Now; Joint submission for the UPR session 2011, factsheet 7. http://www.integrationsfonds.at/de/publikationen/oeif_dossiers/tuerkische_migrant_innen_in_oesterre ich_zahlen_fakten_einstellungen/#c8832