ROTTERDAM, 07/06/03 - Two Rotterdam primary schools are to give lessons in Turkish. Children of Turkish parents will receive a few hours' teaching per week in their mother tongue, to improve their mastery of this language as well as Dutch, A. Werdekker of schools association BOOR reported on Friday.

On Thursday, Werdekker had already launched an experiment in which infants at two other state primary schools would receive lessons in English. Both ideas, for learning English and Turkish, arise from the view that teaching children a foreign language makes it easier for them to pick up Dutch. It is the first time that schools in the Netherlands will give lessons in Turkish.

"I do not consider this a good development," responded councillor W. de Waal of Liveable Rotterdam (LR), the largest party in the city. "It does not foster integration. I am a teacher myself and observe in practice that is difficult enough for most children to learn one language (Dutch). It is also discriminating; why give lessons in Turkish, and not in Moroccan or Arabic?"

Werdekker however claimed it was important for children to learn several languages well at an early age. "Many Turks in Rotterdam speak poor Turkish as well as poor Dutch after leaving primary school. They can lay an important foundation as infants. "

The Turkish lessons are one of the experiments for eliminating the educational arrears in Rotterdam, where the majority of pupils come from immigrant backgrounds. The municipal advisory committee for educational arrears policy took a positive view of the plan, according to Werdekker.

Director T. Nelen of BOOR stressed that the experiment must still be worked out in more detail. "We do not know yet how many lessons and what subjects will be given in Turkish. Nor is it the intention that Dutch or Moroccan children will receive lessons in Turkish. "

Older children from immigrant families have had the chance to brush up their mother language at school for several years, through the so-called OALT scheme. The government intends to discontinue this program. However, the trade unions announced on Friday that they would take legal action against abandoning OALT, as axing the subsidy would cost 1,400 jobs.