Immigration Flanders to impose integration course for immigrants and fine dropouts

[Maciamo]

Immigrants to start paying for own integration course

Flemish Integration Minister Marino Keulen is drawing up new integration legislation in which immigrant students will need to personally pay for their courses.

Employment Minister Frank Vandenbroucke is also moving to significantly boost the means with which employer associations can stimulate the recruitment of immigrant workers.

Keulen wants to amend current federal legislation, particularly the section that deals with penalising students who refuse to enter an integration course.
...
The most important change is that Keulen wants to make students pay for their integration course. The amount will depend on the student's financial means or those of his or her partner.

Whoever starts but fails to finish the course — which is designed to reduce social tension by integrating newcomers into Flemish society — will have to pay more.

Keulen also intends to make it compulsory for family unification and marriage immigrants to undergo an integration course.
...
The Liberal VLD minister is also targeting immigrants who have been in Belgium for an extended period of time. If they are unemployed, the immigrants will be offered an integration course.
...
Prejudice and racism must be completely eliminated and the Flemish employment bureau VDAB must offer more chances for immigrants.

Vandenbroucke announced earlier this that year he would help companies draw up a diversity plan and has now committed an annual allocation of EUR 5 million.
...

This is one of the best decision I have heard in a long time regarding immigrant integration in Belgium. Basically "integrate or pay the consequences" - quite literally. So far it is only for the Flemish part of the country though...

Moreover, he will also urge parents to send their children to Flemish schools and not always to a vocational or technical school. He also wants to boost the number of immigrant children at non-compulsory pre-schools.

This clearly shows that many immigrants (esp. from Africa) don't get jobs because they typically choose the lowest standard of education available (i.e. schools that only lead to manual jobs, and not to university or other 3rd cycle education).