A fight last Thursday at Ravnshøj School near Frederikshavn in northern Jutland between students in the ‘world class’, which is made up of bilingual students, and a general Danish class was so serious that four teachers had to step in to control the situation.
The fight has caused parents and grandparents to call on the municipality’s children and youth committee to hold an emergency session today.
“There was an episode during a PE class last week where a Danish boy tackled one of the students from one of the world classes aggressively during a football match, and the two classes squared off and it developed into a fight,” Heidi Becker-Rasmussen, the children’s culture and labour head from Frederikshavn Municipality, told TV2 News.
It took the four teachers assigned to the PE classes to break up the melee.
Extra students, few resources
Becker-Rasmussen said that Ravnshøj School has been challenged by an influx of extra students since the school took on five world classes. While she said there is no defined conflict between the world classes and the general population, she acknowledged there have been a few incidents.
“We have many world-class students at the school, and there have been some incidents when we have been forced to reprimand some of the students,” she said.
READ MORE: Bilingual students still lagging behind
Christina Lykke Eriksen, the chair of the children and youth committee, said that today’s meeting was being held directly at the request of parents of children at the school.
“Many parents and grandparents have turned to the politicians here in Frederikshavn because they are worried about unrest among the children,” said Eriksen.
“It is clear we have some challenges as we have received many more bilingual children without being provided appropriate resources.”
Eriksen said that efforts were being undertaken to ensure better integration between the bilingual and general classes.
School comments via website
The school has declined to comment on the case, beyond a notice in Danish on the school website,
“There are stories in the media today about fights at Ravnshøj school between refugee and Danish children,” it read.
“The incident mentioned is one that occurred last Thursday when a Danish boy tackled a Syrian boy too hard during a football match, causing the two teams to get into an altercation. The four teachers present controlled the situation, and the school management has been in contact with the homes and the children who engaged in unacceptable behaviour during the situation.”
The notice then concluded: “We expect every student at Ravnshøj School to comply with the school rules.”
