Bergheim asylum centre to offer classes for children from autumn

Children and teenagers seeking asylum will receive lessons directly at the asylum accommodation in Bergheim, Salzburg, from autumn, ORF reported. Two classrooms are currently being prepared at the federal centre.

The Interior Ministry hopes the measure will speed up German-language learning and integration.

Although most refugees stay at the Bergheim accommodation for only a few months, new EU asylum rules have applied since June. In future, mainly families with good prospects of entering the asylum procedure are expected to come to Bergheim, asylum commissioner Anton Holzer said.

“This means that the children who are then in the federal accommodation in Bergheim will move into provincial care and therefore also into the regular school system,” Holzer said. “It therefore makes sense for the children to start learning German as soon as possible, already at the federal accommodation in Bergheim.”

Planning the classes remains difficult because of the high turnover of residents, making it hard to estimate how many pupils will be there in autumn.