‘Countrywide problem’: Mother whose son's daycare group has ‘2 out of 25’ German-speaking kids to RT
A mother who is frustrated by the situation in her son’s daycare group, where only “two out of twenty five speak German”, told RT that the problem may result in “lost children” who can neither speak German nor integrate.
A Facebook video filmed by Leen Kroetsch, mother of a 3-year-old boy in the German city of Essen, has gone viral since she posted it on August 15. The woman shared her emotions, claiming that out of 25 children in her son's group only two are without an immigrant background and who can speak German fluently. The post has polarized social media users and hit some 2 million views.
Speaking to RT, Kroetsch said she has never expected “such a storm of reaction” over her “emotional moment.”
“I can only speak for myself, it's a big problem in my city, but many people have written to me and I learned that it's a countrywide problem, not just regional,” the woman told RT.
While acknowledging that integration is important, Kroetsch fears that her son has “no opportunity to develop” in such a situation as the kid cannot adapt to his own culture when “there are almost no Germans.”
“The city has set this group up and mixed the children incorrectly. And as a result we’ll end up with lost children: no one speaks German, no one can integrate. And this loss is on both sides, I can see it in my son,” the mother warned.
Reacting to Kroetsch’s claims in her initial Facebook post, the facility clarified that the group was made up as an emergency one to compensate for the lack of space in ordinary groups - otherwise all the 25 children would not have had the opportunity to attend daycare.
It also stressed the group consists of children of various nationalities, for instance from Syria, Croatia as well as Turkey, and that the "only common language" they used was German. The nursery acknowledged though, that some of the group’s children indeed spoke poor German, adding that they need more time.
In an online reaction to Kroetsch’s post, some people said she promoted anti-migrant sentiment, but others echoed mother’s concerns, saying the same situation can be found across Germany, including in Berlin.
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