Minister of Education Claude Meisch
Photo credit: Anouk Antony
A new public international school with English, French and German sections will open in Luxembourg from September next year, Education Minister Claude Meisch announced on Monday.
The school will be located in Limpertsberg and will follow the curriculum of the European schools.
There are also plans to create a European accredited school in Dudelange, in the south of the country, Meisch said in a press release.
Over the past four years, Luxembourg has expanded its international school options in response to the growing number of foreigners moving to the country. There are now four free international schools across the country – one in the capital, one in Junglinster in the center of the country, one in Mondorf-les-Bains in the south and one in Clervaux in the north.
The European School of Kirchberg is accessible free of charge only to children of staff of EU institutions or companies that have concluded an agreement. There is a fee in place for all other students.
Two years ago, Meisch told the Luxembourg time on the plan to open a new international public school in the capital, saying she needed it “given the international character of the population of the city of Luxembourg”.
The new school will not open in Limpertsberg from the shift. The primary section will initially open in Cessange and the high school in Hollerich, near the Athénée de Luxembourg and the private school International School of Luxembourg (ISL). The school will have an English, French and German section and students will also be able to learn Portuguese, Spanish and Italian.
While the existing state school in the capital teaches the British curriculum, the new school will follow the European curriculum. The City of Luxembourg “needs a European curriculum closer to the philosophy of the Luxembourg system with its multilingualism and the different languages that pupils can choose from”, previously declared Meisch.
Another international school will open this month. The Anne Beffort International School in Mersch will have an English, French and German section for pupils from kindergarten to the end of secondary school.
In Luxembourg’s system, school will be compulsory for all students up to the age of 18 to meet an increasingly demanding labor market, Meisch said in a Monday press release.
Until now, students could leave school at 16 years old. More than a third of school dropouts are between 16 and 18 years old. During the last school year, 1,670 students – or 8% – dropped out of school. The percentage has remained stable over the past four years, decreasing slightly from 9% in 2016.
Making schools compulsory for two more years will help prevent school dropouts and help them integrate into the labor market, the ministry said.
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