The Greenlandic government wants to discontinue Danish language instruction for the youngest students.

Greenland’s government wants to reduce Danish language instruction for the youngest students.

According to the director of Greenland’s Business, the Greenlandic education system is still too dependent on the Danish language to completely eliminate Danish instruction.

In Greenland, over half the population has primary school as their highest level of education, according to data from Greenland Statistics.

That’s why it’s now time to remove Danish from the primary school curriculum for the youngest grades.

This is the view of Greenland’s government, Naalakkersuisut, which proposes a major overhaul of the Greenlandic primary school system.

But dropping Danish instruction in the lower grades isn’t without risks.

“As soon as you move beyond 10th grade in our education system, you need Danish skills to progress through upper secondary education and vocational training,” he says. “If you want to study at a university here or in Denmark, that also requires Danish.”

Therefore, a long-term plan is needed to ensure that reducing Danish instruction doesn’t negatively impact Greenlandic students in the future.

“We don’t yet have a plan from cradle to grave if we’re to completely eliminate Danish in the youngest grades,” he says.

The Greenlandic University, Ilisimatusarfik, is located on the outskirts of Nuuk and has around 750 students.

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Risk of being left behind

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Already today, we see that Greenlandic youth who haven’t learned proper Danish struggle to advance in the education system, according to Christian Keldsen.

“Some of them will end up stuck if they haven’t learned another language, because there are so few opportunities in our education system,” he says.

In Greenland, Danish instruction is mandatory across all ten grades of primary school. Many teachers in upper secondary and vocational education are Danish, and most teaching materials are also in Danish.

At the Greenlandic University, Ilisimatusarfik, students can pursue 12 bachelor’s degrees and five master’s degrees.

Because educational opportunities in Greenland are limited, around 30 percent of Greenlandic youth study abroad to continue their education. The majority go to Denmark, according to data from Greenland Statistics.

For Christian Keldsen, it’s important to emphasize that this isn’t about choosing between Denmark and Greenland.

“Technically, we could choose Swahili and run with it all the way through, as long as we’re consistent—but that’s not what we’re doing,” he says.

“If you can’t speak anything but Greenlandic, there’s no education system ready for you yet.”

In 2024, 43.6 percent of the population aged 16–74 had an education beyond primary school in Greenland, according to Greenland Statistics.

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The earlier, the better

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When the school bell rings for recess in Greenland, many Greenlandic children speak English with each other instead of Danish or Greenlandic.

This is also reflected in their report cards, where data from Greenlandic primary school students’ final exams in 2024 show that just over half the students received top marks in oral English, while only about 30 percent received top marks in oral Danish.

Read also: Before, many spoke Danish. Now, Greenlandic children also speak English with each other in the schoolyard.

Several parties in Greenland have advocated for promoting English as a subject, which is currently taught starting in 4th grade. According to the government, however, Danish and English should only be introduced in 4th grade because children are more “developmentally mature” at that stage.

“The reason for this is that international research shows that strong proficiency in the mother tongue supports the acquisition of foreign languages,” the government writes in its explanation of the proposal.

However, research also indicates that the more languages children learn, the better their chances of succeeding later in life, according to a group of researchers at the Institute of Learning at the Greenlandic University, Ilisimatusarfik, who have joined the debate.

“International research also points to the fact that children’s linguistic development is strengthened when they are exposed to more than one language,” the group tells DR.

Nor can Christian Keldsen from Greenland’s Business see the logic in shielding children from language instruction. He believes there’s more need for language skills than ever before.

“You need to speak multiple languages, and the earlier you start, the better. That’s what all other education systems do. In Denmark, you’ve also moved English instruction to the very beginning of primary school,” he says.

In Denmark, English instruction is mandatory starting in 2nd grade.

Until 2003, schools in Greenland were divided into Danish and Greenlandic classes. Today, all students in Greenland receive instruction in both Greenlandic and Danish.

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Could threaten competitiveness

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Removing Danish from the school curriculum is just one of many points in the government’s new bill, which has been under public consultation until today.

The entire bill is based on the idea that Greenlandic students currently have too many subjects in school, leading to unstable and disjointed teaching, says the government. Fewer subjects will allow for deeper focus and higher quality in instruction.

“The goal is also to strengthen students’ well-being, resilience, and personal and holistic development,” the government writes about the proposal.

Read also: Greenlandic schoolchildren should learn more English: ‘Children won’t speak Danish. That’s the problem.’

As part of this, the government also plans to reduce teaching hours for the youngest students. The bill proposes cutting instruction hours from 700 to 560. For comparison, Danish students in grades 0–3 are entitled to at least 1,030 hours of teaching per school year, according to the Ministry of Children and Education.

According to Christian Keldsen from Greenland’s Business, this part of the proposal is also noteworthy.

“Our Greenlandic youth need to compete with other young people both at home and abroad for jobs and skills later on, so it’s crucial that we have a competitive education system,” he says.

Do you think the proposal does the opposite?

“At least, one could fear that if we have fewer hours and narrower subjects, we’ll eventually find ourselves unable to compete with those who’ve had a different educational path,” he says.

In Greenland, primary school is the highest achieved education for nearly 55 percent of the population. In Denmark, the figure is 10 percent.

DR reached out to the Minister for Children, Youth, and Education, Nivi Olsen, to hear her response to the criticism of the bill.

She has not yet replied to our inquiry before the article’s publication.

Warning: This article was translated by a Large Language Model, in case of doubt, you can always visit the original source.