Immigration Immigrants children do worse at school in Belgium

[Maciamo]

Expatica : Immigrant children do worse in school

A recent study carried out by Brussels' Free University shows that the school results of children of immigrant parents are still weaker then those of pupils of native Belgian origins.

More troubling still, the study shows that the performance of these 'migrant' children is worse even when the results are corrected for linguistic and socio-economic factors. Meaning that the children of immigrants do not do as well as children of parents of Belgian origin even when they share the same financial situation and speak the same language at home.

Indeed, the major part of the children belonging immigrant community of Belgium were born in the country or came at a very young age. What is more, a big part of economic immigrants to Belgium come from countries where French is an official, and often also education language (e.g. Morocco, Congo...). Being born here, language shouldn't be a major issue. After all, many Belgian in and around Brussels live in bilingual French-Dutch families and also have to cope with two languages since a young age.

Note that children of expats (including a lot of EU workers) are not considered as "immigrants" as they do not intend to stay permanently.