What happened
Fewer than three quarters of students at Vallentuna gymnasium are expected to graduate when the school year ends, according to the school's principal Johan Klintberg. The principal states that the drop is due to high absenteeism, which is increasing particularly among girls and in the language introduction programme. Several students have part-time jobs and state that the goal is not a full diploma, but graduating with the class and completing the grades later. Last spring, 102 students at the upper secondary school, corresponding to 20 percent, had their student financial aid withdrawn due to unexcused absences.
Our analysis
When politicians discuss young new Swedes, it is almost always about demands, discipline, and revoked allowances. At Vallentuna gymnasium, we see what this policy leads to in practice: every fifth student has their student aid revoked while students in the language introduction programme are pushed out of classes.
Punishing young people with revoked student aid solves neither mental health issues nor language difficulties. Instead, it increases financial stress and forces young people into precarious part-time jobs to make ends meet. The school management virtually shrugs and notes that students can study at komvux later.
It is not the students in the language introduction programme who are failing the school. It is an education policy that cuts support, withdraws money, and then pretends to be surprised when grades plummet.
Explained
Language introduction is an upper secondary programme for young people who recently arrived in Sweden and need to learn Swedish before they can apply to a national programme.