BOLZANO. The SVP has placed the veto on the proposal for a bilingual kindergarten in Merano as an additional option to German and Italian kindergartens, which had found a large majority in the City Council. This was reported by Team K. “It was clearly stated that the pilot project is an additional option and that not even one German-speaking kindergarten section will be eliminated. The introduction of a bilingual kindergarten in South Tyrol, with an equal number of children of both provincial languages, is an important step towards promoting bilingualism, intercultural competence and equality”, says the city councilor of Team K Sabine Kiem.
“The daily routine of kindergarten not only promotes children’s language skills, but also lays the foundation for a society that is increasingly a community, based on mutual respect and understanding. It is time to invest together in the future and promote the cultural diversity of South Tyrol as a strength.” “The SVP’s educational policy continues to try to prevent exactly what parents want for their children: a bilingual kindergarten,” comments the provincial councilor of Team K. Alex Ploner.
“This then leads to problems that occur later in primary school, but also in the subsequent school levels, where our children find themselves with poor language skills, even in their native language. The responsibility in this case must be clearly attributed and must be sought in SVP’s outdated education policy. Instead of blocking the step towards the future that was taken in Merano, the SVP should do exactly the opposite, and then evaluate the results objectively. The rhetoric of fear must give way to the scientifically founded awareness that the more languages we learn, the more we also improve our skills in our mother tongue. Multilingual people are mentally more flexible, culturally more open and generally better equipped for the globalized world.”
2024-09-14 07:22:28