It was perfectly pitched to cause outrage. "Exams in Arabic?", wrote Alexander Steffen, an MP for the liberal Free Democrats (FDP) in the North-Rhine Westphalian state parliament, in a now-viral Instagram post. "This is no joke, but soon to be a reality."
Steffen went on to reference a resolution on bilingualism that had recently been passed in North-Rhine Westphalia. Put forward by the conservative Christian Democrats (CDU), Greens and Social Democrats (SPD), it described "promoting bilingualism in schools" as an "opportunity for society and personal development".
“The title sounds harmless," wrote Steffen. "But the motion contains one sentence that changes everything: in future, pupils’ subject knowledge should be ‘appropriately assessed’ even when a child does not yet speak German well enough. To this day, the CDU and Greens have not said exactly which rules they intend to change.”
Around a third of pupils in German schools don't speak German well enough, Steffen said. "Instead of focusing on this area and expanding support for German, the motion opens the door to examinations in other languages."
Allowing children to take exams in their native language doesn't solve the problem, he went on, it merely "sidesteps it".
His comments have whipped up a frenzied debate online, with some news outlets also mentioning "tests in Arabic".
But are his claims true? Here's what the resolution actually says.
How does NRW want to promote bilingualism in schools?
According to official statistics, 18 percent of the population of North-Rhine Westphalia are foreign nationals. However, around a third (32.5 percent) have a migration background. This means that one or more of their parents or grandparents were born in a foreign country.
In their July resolution, the CDU, Greens and SPD state that this mixed cultural heritage should be seen as an "educational resource" rather than an integration problem.
It calls for a number of reforms in schools to promote bilingualism, including:
- Embedding multilingualism across school culture, classroom teaching, curricula and teacher training.
- Prioritising education in academic German, while recognising that strong second-language skills can support German acquisition and wider educational attainment.
- Modernising and expanding 'heritage-language teaching' (herkunftssprachlicher Unterricht), which NRW currently offers in around 30 languages.
- Opening multilingual language teaching to pupils who do not speak the language at home, making it less strictly tied to family origin.
- Integrating additional languages more closely into the normal school day, including all-day schooling and project courses.
- Using online teaching to improve access in rural areas and for less commonly spoken languages.
- Improving training and career routes for multilingual and heritage-language teachers.
- Making multilingual abilities more visible in certificate examinations.
- Adjusting assessment rules so that pupils with limited German can demonstrate their subject knowledge properly.
- Permitting upper-secondary project courses to be taught in pupils’ first languages, provided the language is officially recognised.
At present, these ideas haven't been translated into concrete laws yet. They should be seen more as a statement of intent to celebrate and encourage multilingualism.
What about tests and everyday lessons?
The FDP is basing its claims on a clause at the end of the document. In it, the proposition is to “amend the regulations so that subject-specific competences can be assessed appropriately, even when a child is unable to fully demonstrate their competences due to insufficient knowledge of German”.
However, this does not refer to regular class tests or Arbitur examinations, the CDU has said. Rather, it relates to a general assessment of a child's abilities by the teacher. For example, establishing what level a Ukrainian refugee has reached in maths in their home country.
The SPD reiterated this point. “German remains the common language of education, teaching and examinations," the party told public broadcaster ARD.
A spokesperson for the North Rhine-Westphalia Ministry of Education also told the media outlet that German language skills must remain the foundation for academic achievement in the country.
“Language deficits must not be compensated for by lowering standards, but must be addressed through targeted support," they explained. “However, examination requirements apply equally to all pupils.”
Are children in NRW really struggling to speak German?
This is one point where Steffen's claims were (mostly) accurate: according to the NRW Education Ministry, around one-third of children beginning school in the state lack the German-language skills needed to participate fully in lessons.
That said language and literacy difficulties are not always linked to foreign heritage. For example, children from a low socioeconomic backgrounds may face educational disadvantages before they begin school.
The statistics also relate to school entrance exams and don't necessarily reflect language attainment once children start at primary school (Grundschule).
What's been the reaction?
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the "tests in Arabic" framing has sparked a slew of racist and xenophobic comments on social media.
Though Arabic isn't mentioned once in the document, Steffen's wording prompted an array of Islamophobic posts across multiple platforms.
One Facebook user ranted: “We speak and write German here. Full stop! If you don’t like it: the borders are open! And goodbye!”
Amid this angry outcry, the FDP has doubled down. “This is a back door to undermining German as the language of instruction," FDP parliamentary group leader Henning Höne recently lamented. "We’ll end up with class tests in Arabic, Turkish and Ukrainian.”
At the same time, a spokesperson for the party told ARD that "exams in native languages have certainly not been ruled out" in North-Rhine Westphalia.
"If these are indeed to be ruled out, this would also have to be laid down in the text of the resolution," she added.
