Refugees pose huge challenge for Germany's schools

German schools are facing a major challenge to integrate some 300,000 refugee children. Thousands of "welcome courses" have been introduced into schools across the country in order to accommodate the newcomers and teach them German before they can join regular classes. But as our correspondents found out, it's no easy task.
Azzam and his family are Syrian. For the past few weeks they’ve been living in one of Berlin’s many emergency centres for refugees. They and 1,000 other people, including 200 children, are waiting to be transferred to a home where their daughter and son can begin a normal life and—most importantly—return to school.
"It’s a big problem for us," say the Syrian couple in unison. "Our daughter is in the third grade of elementary school and she hasn’t gone to school for over two months."
Some 300,000 child refugees arrived in Germany over the past few months and will start attending schools across the country by the end of the year. Some schools, like the Am Kollwitzplatz primary school in Berlin, where FRANCE 24 filmed most of this report, have been preparing for this unprecedented wave of migration for some time. The school now feels ready to welcome the children.
The school has gone to great lengths to accommodate the children of refugees. But Director Janett Harting knows that a tough road lies ahead for the German school system: "Schools need to be prepared, they must recruit staff specialised in teaching German as a foreign language. And the main problem is the time it takes to achieve this."
About 25 percent of the asylum seekers that have arrived in the country are of school age. In Germany, it is the regions that fun... Go on reading on our web site.
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