NRW school language policy debate keeps German as instruction language

In the North Rhine‑Westphalia state parliament, a proposal from the CDU, Greens and SPD to strengthen multilingual offerings in schools sparked a heated debate. The FDP warned the measures could open the door to exams in languages such as Arabic, Turkish or Ukrainian, citing a clause that would allow assessment of students with insufficient German proficiency. The proposal was rejected, and Education Minister Dorothee Feller (CDU) affirmed that German will remain the sole language of instruction and examinations. A fact‑check confirmed that the parliamentary document contains no demand for exams in foreign languages and clarified that the FDP’s claim about upcoming Arabic‑language tests is unfounded. The controversy also generated a wave of xenophobic comments on social media.