A lesson that is causing debate. In Marignane in the Var department, the mayor of the city has firmly opposed the official request of the Algerian consulate in Marseille to employ Arabic teachers in two schools in the city, France Bleu reports. The politician explained his attitude towards the course , which allows pupils to learn Arabic during non-school hours. “He justified his decision by saying that in a French school you need to learn French.
These courses, which can be taught from the second grade onwards, would have been envisaged to enable children with a migrant background to better shape their integration. However, for Eric Le Dissès, this measure is no longer appropriate, which is why he rejected the request from parents “on principle”: “It is not up to the schools of the Republic to do this, but up to the families,” he recalled. This decision was confirmed by Marine Le Pen, as she explained on the France Bleu channel on January 20: “This teaching (…) was originally conceived when France was experiencing labour immigration”, she stressed, adding: “Sending these children back to their culture of origin is in fact the complete opposite of the concept of the school I want to see, which is to be the breeding ground for assimilation”.