Summary of article in Billed Bladet #31, 2021.
Written by Ulrik ulriksen.
Mary recently went to the island of Lolland, some distance south of Copenhagen to open the very first state-international school in DK. International schools are otherwise privately funded (albeit with subsidies from the state).
That school is for incongruous reasons placed in the town of Maribo. - Perhaps it's got something to do with the bridge between DK and Germany that is to be build in the coming years nearby?
Anyway, wearing a good looking dress by Morten Ussing Mary arrived and was received by an endearing five year old flowergirl named Eva. Apart from that it was very much the pupils, of whom many had dressed up in their finest who found Mary endearing and she got a couple of spontaneous hugs.
The locals in the good town of Maribo used this opportunity to turn the event into a mini-town party. Even jokingly referring to their town as Marybo.
So the mayor was there to give speeches and there was entertainment and the head of the school, who happens to be an Australian (*), told about the school.
The school can accommodate 100 children, currently there are 55 of whom half are children of parents, where at least one is a foreign national. The rest are local children from immigrant families.
When leaving Mary said to our reporter: "They are gorgeous children and it's fantastic with this new international school on Lolland. It's been a really good visit.
- Of course such a school is not set up by the state because the children are gorgeous. It's part of making DK more attractive for foreign skilled workers. We are in serious need of skilled people here! Unskilled too for that matter. Up to some 40 % of businesses here have had to decline orders due to lack of skilled workers. Especially withing the construction sector and service sector. That's because the economy is booming. We are back at the level at 2006, with an expected growth in the GNP this year of more than 3 %.
So public schools aimed at foreign workers that are free of charge like all other state schools, should be an additional lure.
So I guess we will see quite a few more such schools pop up all over the country.
(*) There are Australians all over the place! I really have to pay attention, lest I bump into one when turning a corner. (In fact there are 2.205 Australians in DK at present.)
