Danish Gov't Pins Failure to Limit Share of Non-Western Students by 30 Percent on COVID-19

Roughly one in ten schoolchildren in Denmark is an immigrant. However, as immigrants tend to cluster together, some schools end up with a skewed balance, which the government has pledged to rectify amid its plan to combat ghettos.

Three years ago, the Social Democrats pledged to limit the share of non-Western students in Danish schools by 30 percent. However, as the government is failing to make progress toward its goal, the COVID-19 pandemic is getting the blame, Danish Radio has reported.

"No schools in Denmark should in the future have more than 30 percent non-Western immigrants and their descendants", the party said in 2018.

Yet, over 5 percent of Danish schools surpass this threshold as of now, most of them in Copenhagen and Aarhus, two of the country's largest cities. This is the same percentage as three years ago, the Ministry of Children and Education said.

This has spurred criticism from both the red (left-of-centre) and the blue (right-of-centre) blocs.

"So far, too little has happened", Social Liberal Party children and education spokeswoman Lotte Rod said. "That, I think, is really unfortunate, because it is important that children go to school with each other", she added, calling to make schools less divided.

The national-conservative Danish People's Party's deputy chairman Morten Messerschmidt argued that the government has failed

"It lags tremendously. Everyone knows that it is extremely harmful for teaching and for peace in the class that there are so many bilinguals, especially Muslims, in certain primary schools", Messerschmidt maintained.

Social Democrat Minister for Children and Education Pernille Rosenkrantz-Theil expressed understanding that fellow parties believe it is moving too slowly.

"I think it is crucial that the children have a balance in that the students reflect the composition of the population. That, I think, is simply an important part of their formation. But we don't deal in witchcraft, and we lost a year on the 'corona'", Rosenkrantz-Theil argued. "I'm sorry that in the year I had imagined I would spend on changing the school sector we have had to deal with a global pandemic", she added.

Still, she maintained that it remains a long-term goal that will be fixed by 2030. "After all, it is not something you do with the flick of a finger", she added.

Rosenkrantz-Theil did not reveal the measures the Danish government will incorporate to ensure its goal, but said that bussing was not an option. Instead she pinned her hopes on changing the composition of school districts.

As of 2020, immigrants constitute 13.9 percent of Denmark's 5.8-million-strong population. About one in ten schoolchildren in Denmark is therefore an immigrant. However, as immigrants tend to cluster together, some schools end up with a skewed balance.

A related issue is Denmark's perennial ghetto problem, which the government intends to solve using a plethora of carrot-and-stick measures, including "strategic demolition".