Spending millions on getting more minority language children in kindergarten

KindergartenKindergarten.Photo: Pixabay

Only eight out of ten minority language children go to kindergarten. Now, 22 selected municipalities have received more money to increase the percentage.

 

In total, the municipalities can apply for a share of a total amount of NOK 20 million.

‘’The kindergarten is an important arena for integration, and to give children good Norwegian knowledge before starting school. This gives the children a better start to the whole school run,” said Jan Tore Sanner of Høyre (H), Minister of Knowledge and Integration.

Today, 91% of children in the whole population are in kindergartens, while only 79% of the minority language children use it. Research shows that minority language children who have been in kindergartens do better at school than minority language children who have not done so.

Coastal municipalities only

The NOK 20 million has been set aside for active recruitment work in the municipalities of Oslo, Bergen, Stavanger, Bærum, Trondheim, Sandnes, Sandefjord, Fredrikstad, Kristiansand, Asker, Sarpsborg, Drammen, Skien, Ålesund, Larvik, Tromsø, Tønsberg, Arendal, Horten , Haugesund, Hå, and Moss.

These municipalities have more than 6,600 minority language children who don’t attend kindergarten. But there are big local variations. Approximately 35% of the minority language children in Horten don’t go to kindergarten. In Larvik, the proportion is 30%, and 12% in Drammen.

“Some newcomers don’t know the arrangements that make it economically possible to choose kindergartens, others do not know what a kindergarten is. Letting the children go to the nursery school also opens for the parents to get out to work faster,” said Sanner.

 

© NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today