Recruitment of qualified workers from Denmark may be challenged when the Danish subject, as proposed by the Greenlandic Government, is to be eliminated in grades 1 to 3 in primary school, believes GE Director Christian Keldsen.
- Removing Danish as a subject could have a structural impact on the overall labor market, states the GE director, adding:
- You shouldn't base your school system on the possibility of recruiting from abroad, but more on raising the level of your own population.
- But given our reality, where the need to call in labor will only increase in the coming decades, the change will probably create an even greater need for alternatives to primary school and thus more independent schools and private schools to accommodate, for example, Danish and English-speaking students, says Christian Keldsen, who believes that this in itself can create some challenges in society.
- We should probably remember the 70s and 80s, when many Greenlandic-speaking parents chose to send their children to Danish-language classes to give them good conditions in the further education system.
Christian Keldsen points out that there should be concern that "we have an education system that requires good Danish skills, and that one may fear that the prerequisites for taking part in this are now being limited because we are reducing Danish teaching."
Calls for long-term roadmap
- If Danish is to be removed as a prerequisite early in primary school, it should probably not be done until there is a long-term roadmap for how children and young people who do not acquire Danish can progress all the way through the Greenlandic education system in Greenlandic.
The new bill, which the Greenland Government has sent for consultation, also contains changes for the senior grades 9 and 10, where the plan is that municipalities will have the opportunity to establish vocational classes where students can do business internships.
The GE director is pleased with the new initiatives at the senior level.
- Other countries here specifically have subjects and classes where the focus is on qualities and learning in subjects that can quickly come into play when you move on in the world. A broad education is also important, but not everyone benefits from this equally, and many students will benefit from more business-related subjects, says Christian Keldsen, who uses his own daughter as an example, who is currently being taught in Canada.
- My own daughter has financial mathematics in her 10th grade at the school she attends in Montreal.
The bill on the changes to the primary school can be read in full on this page. The consultation deadline is set for February 10th.
