Eurolang, the European news agency for minority languages


Sorbian medium secondary school to be closed - only one remaining
Copenhagen 2/07/03, by Brigitte Alfter

On Thursday a fax from the Saxonian Ministry of Culture arrived at the municipality of Crostwitz and confirmed the fears of local parents. Their school will be closed down after the summer holiday, and that numerous strikes, demonstrations and negotiations over the last two years have been fruitless.

Crostwitz is one of only two Sorbian secondary schools (age 10 to 16). The Sorbian minority has until now had two Sorbian medium primary schools (age 6 to 10) and two secondary schools, also four primary and secondary schools in the region have both Sorbian and German classes. To continue their education Sorbian students are able to attend a Sorbian 'gymnasium' (college).

The Sorbians are a Slavonic minority and today approximately 60,000 Sorbs live in the German-Polish-Czech border region in the provinces of Saxony and Brandenburg.

The closure of schools has happened because new Saxonian legislation requires that there are a minimum of 20 children per class and 40 children per school. The school in Crostwitz in recent years has had 13-17 students per class, and after the summer holidays the youngest class will only have 7 students, according to Jan Nuk, chairman of 'Domowina' (a Sorbian NGO), and the Ministry of Culture of the state of Saxony, which is responsible for education.

Both Sorbs as well as other minority representatives and organisations think that minority schools need to have special status, as they play a different role both in language education as well as in the local community.

According to a Sorbian minority spokesperson's appeal for the schools two years ago: 'Sorbian schools and kindergartens not only have an educational function, but play a very important role in the development of the national identity of adolescents. A Sorbian school in the village is a symbol of the high cultural value of Sorbian for Sorbian families.'

From the Ministry of Culture, population projections do not forecast for an increase in the number of children. Even those bilingual secondary schools that will be kept in the region can only continue thanks to exemptions to the rule requesting a minimum of 40 children per school.

The spokesperson for the Ministry, Dieter Herz, describes how the birthrate in the bilingual region of Saxony has dropped by 50 percent in the last few years. Even when the special needs of the Sorbians are considered, the quality of the education has to be safeguarded, which is not possible with as few children as in Crostwitz, he says. The decline in the numbers is seen as the reason why the regional government passed the new law.

In August 2001 Crostwitz parents refused to send their children by bus to the next school. By teaching them at the school in Crostwitz they have disobeyed the Ministry of Culture, which is responsible for the closure. The protest was followed by a strike, where 1000-1500 Sorbian students throughout the province did not attend class for a few hours.

Following the decision by the Ministry to close the school in Crostwitz, 'Domowina' intends to consult the federal government's contact group for minorities on the issue, according to Jan Nuk.

The Saxonian ministry, however, does not see the closure of Crostwitz as the violation of any legislation protecting the minority, neither on a provincial or European level. Referring to the possibilities of learning the Sorbian language in bilingual schools, the spokesman says: 'Even with respect to minority rights the Sorbian secondary school in Crostwitz cannot continue.'

Parents, Sorbian as well as German, have been fighting the threatened closure of schools. Smaller local schools are especially in danger.

A request for a public referendum to change the new school law was nearly successful. According to Jan Nuk 426.000 of the required 450.000 signatures were gathered, but the shortfall in names by the April deadline meant that referendum was not possible. (EL)