Original article (in Slovenian) was published on 18/10/2024; Author: David Bajec
An amendment to the Primary School Act which came into force in March this year allows immigrant pupils who enter Slovenian school in the second semester to be promoted to the next grade even if they do not have all the grades. However, a law that lays down the conditions for the promotion of such students has been in force longer, since November 2011.
On 3 October, Svet24 reported that “a change in school legislation stipulates that immigrant pupils who are enrolled in a Slovenian primary school for the first time can be promoted to the next grade without grades in individual subjects”. The article claimed that the same applies to immigrant pupils who enter school in the second semester, but that their promotion to the next grade is decided by the teachers’ council.
The article referred to an amendment the Primary School Act which has been in force since March this year and applies since July. The provision on the promotion of ungraded immigrant pupils who enter school in the second semester is a novelty of this law. Ninth-graders are an exception.
The general conditions for these pupils to be promoted to a higher grade have been laid down in the Primary School Act since November 2011, when a version of the Act came into force that allowed immigrant pupils to be ungraded in individual subjects at the end of the school year in which they first joined a Slovenian school, but still be promoted to a higher grade. The new version of the Act allows immigrant pupils to be graded at the end of the school year in which they first entered the school. The final decision on this is made by the teachers’ council at the proposal of the homeroom teacher.
The current Act provides that children without Slovenian citizenship residing in Slovenia have the right to compulsory primary education under the same conditions as Slovenian citizens. Schools must provide instruction in Slovenian language and culture, and, in cooperation with their countries of origin, instruction in their mother tongue and culture.
We have shared our findings with Svet24. We will publish their response when we receive it.
The claim that “a change in school legislation stipulates that immigrant pupils who are enrolled in a Slovenian primary school for the first time can be promoted to the next grade without grades in individual subjects” is manipulative.
A new feature of the amended law is the promotion of ungraded immigrant pupils to a higher grade if they first entered the Slovenian school system in the second semester. However, the conditions for the promotion of these pupils had already been laid down in November 2011.
