Education Ministry, Caritas Sign Convention for Integration Classes

On Thursday 16 August 2018, Luxembourg's Minister of National Education, Children and Youth, Claude Meisch, and the President of the Caritas Foundation, Marie-Josée Jacobs, together with its director Philippe Streff, signed a convention aimed at the creation of 5th grade integration classes in adult education.

From the start of the 2018 school year, six classes of 5th grade at different levels will be offered with a reinforced programme in French or German, mathematics, courses to develop digital and civic skills, as well as orientation sessions. Access, based on newsletters and an orientation notice, will therefore be made possible for upper secondary education and vocational training.

Candidates who already have a diploma giving access to higher education but who do not master the languages ​​required to access the University of Luxembourg, can take courses in a class of preparation for graduate studies. This will be completed with a bridging class for those who wish to integrate during the school year.

A qualification and mastery of the country's languages ​​are the prerequisites for an adult to integrate in a sustainable manner on the job market of the host country. In Luxembourg, the 5th grade (9th year of study and the last lower secondary level of secondary education) is decisive for access to upper secondary education and vocational training.

For the past ten years, the Caritas Foundation has offered bridging classes to young adults and newcomer adults. Following the massive influx of applicants for international protection, the Adult Education Department of the Ministry of National Education, Childhood and Youth has developed schemes for the qualification of adults through the offer of 9th classes of integration.

This pooling of the resources and know-how of the two organisations will therefore enable a broader and more diversified offer from September 2018.