A Belgian high school has decided to introduce mandatory Arabic lessons. According to the school's principal, this will challenge the students intellectually and show that their institution is open to all. However, opponents of the plan argue that it's a political decision.

Senior modern language high-school pupils are to be taught the language at the Holy Trinity College Preparatory School (Heilige-Drievuldigheidscollege) in the Belgian city of Leuven. School director Frank Baeyens said their aim „was not to coddle our students, but to intellectually challenge them with a language that doesn’t belong to the Indo-European family”.

Opponents have claimed the move was the result of mass migration and possibly the Islamisation of schools.

Belgian education has declined in recent years, with Flemish education having slid backwards in the international Pisa rankings both in language and maths skills, highlights the Brussels Signal site. Social media commentators noted there were many variances and dialects in Arabic and claimed that the decision was a political one. Some felt learning a language such as Chinese would make more sense, especially in economic, scientific and cultural terms.

Politicians from the right-wing Vlaams Belang (Flemish Interest) party, which opposes mass migration, have also spoken out: “Is Arabic now mandatory in school because it’s ‘socially useful’?” party president Tom Van Grieken asked, adding hat

“A solid knowledge of Dutch and quality basic maths is socially useful. Arabic is not. Stop the self-hatred in our education system!”

Belgian newspaper Het Nieuwsblad reported that the college students will be taught six languages: Dutch, French, English, Spanish, German and now Arabic. Regarding his college’s decision, Baeyens said: “We wanted to show them that a language can be structured in a completely different way, with a distinct writing system and characters. The goal isn’t for them to become fluent in Arabic. Rather, it’s a philosophical and cultural exploration of language – an exercise in broadening their horizons, he said. He emphasized that they have

“also considered other languages, but chose one that we felt was most socially relevant.” According to the school principal, this showed that his school was “open for everyone.”

He also told Het Nieuwsblad that “there’s a group of students at our school who have Arabic as their mother tongue. If we can manage to bring in a teacher with Arabic roots who can serve as a role model for these students, it would be an enormous asset. “Students can then see themselves reflected in someone who has achieved a certain social position, who has pursued higher education and is content with their accomplishments,” he said, pointing out that

“today, there are too few teachers with a migration background.”