Vienna in the spotlight

Family immigration “swept under the carpet for far too long”

Language and school as the basic problem with integration. The situation is particularly dramatic in Vienna.

(Bild: APA)

Family immigration: Vienna is severely affected. Politicians are arguing. Yet expert reports show that the problem has been ignored for many years. This can also be proven by studies.

The uproar surrounding the influx of families from Syria is causing a stir in politics. Vienna is particularly affected. 350 children a month. Where to put them? What does this mean for the school system? "This huge problem is nothing new. We already knew this many years ago, even before 2015, when a huge wave reached us. We knew that migrants perform much worse in Pisa tests," says Carmen Treml from Agenda Austria.

(Bild: APA)

Huge problems for teaching staff
She and her colleagues have looked at the latest Pisa results. 2012, 2015, 2018, 2022. Migrants perform much worse. This includes both first and second generation immigrants, which should also give cause for concern. This also poses enormous problems for teaching staff.

Many things have been swept under the carpet for far too long. Now comes the outcry.

Carmen Treml von der Agenda Austria

Migrant children who speak their mother tongue at home rather than German are doing even worse. "The issue has now come up again, but it's not new. A lot of things have been swept under the carpet for far too long. Now there is an outcry," Treml criticizes the politicians.

Vienna attracts a particularly large number of migrants
There are also huge differences between the federal states. "In Tyrol, for example, there is less basic care than in Vienna. So many migrants or asylum seekers are drawn there." Up to three quarters of them, according to calculations.

Recently, there has been a discussion about compulsory residence. Like the one in Denmark. Triggered by AMS boss Johannes Kopf. He wants the payment of minimum benefits for refugees to be linked to the federal state in which the asylum application was made.

This is because Vienna currently has around 30,000 unemployed refugees, while other countries only have a few hundred. Carmen Treml also believes that if everything were standardized in terms of social welfare, the urge to move to Vienna would not be quite so great.

"Mathematics in Syrian is useless"
But as it is, Vienna is the focal point. "In 2023, there was an average of 35% foreigners in schools, in the country only 13%. We must finally accept the challenges." The German language is central to all of this. "It's no use being taught math in Syrian at home."

Vienna feels left alone by the federal government in this matter. The Turkish-Green government, meanwhile, rejects the demand for compulsory residency. The huge problem is unlikely to get any smaller any time soon.