The siblings Ossian and Ava Rosén are two of a total of seven students who this semester have mother tongue teaching in the City of Stockholm.
– You feel special. My brother and I have as a secret language that our parents do not understand, says 8-year-old Ava Rosén.
Their father was not allowed to learn Sami when he grew up during the time when it was considered wrong to speak Sami. But now the language is taken back through the children.
Lowest participation in nine years
For many years, the number of Sami school students who receive mother tongue education increased, but a few years ago something happened that caused the upward trend.
Now the proportion of Sweden’s elementary school students who is taught in Sami languages is the lowest in nine years, and it continues to decrease. A problem that the National Agency for Education has noticed.
– Unfortunately, we do not know why. But we can see that it will lead to problems in the future, says Helena Lundgren, teaching council at the National Agency for Education.
There is no indication that neither mother tongue teacher nor the proportion of Sami pupils has decreased – it is the proportion of the eligible students who actually participate in the teaching that has decreased.
– It will make it very difficult for municipalities and other actors to live up to the law and the right to elderly care in Sami, language teaching and Sami preschool. In order to find people for the services, we need students who learn the language in the school, says Helena Lundgren at the National Agency for Education.
Distance education would increase accessibility
Since 2015, the Sami School Board has a special assignment to offer distance education to the entire country where there is no access to suitable teachers. And since 2022, the National Agency for Education can also be responsible for the cost so that more students can learn Sami in school. But despite the investments, the students who are given mother tongue education have not become more but fewer.
– It is a serious development that we follow closely. Often, the parents themselves have a great responsibility to push through mother tongue teaching. It can take a long time to find a language teacher and the schools do not inform enough about what right you have. In addition, the possibility of mother tongue education looks very different depending on where you live and what Sami language it is about, says Sara Omma Simma, head of the Sami Parliament’s language center.
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