Recently revealed figures have shown that efforts to teach newly arrived immigrants the German language are struggling, with only half of the migrants passing basic language standard tests.
The figures come after a written request from populist (AfD) MP René Springer and show that only 51.5 percent of the 172,471 migrants who took part in their first German course could reach the “B1” language level target, Die Welt reports.
The B1 level is regarded as the minimum for migrants to be able to cope with using the German language in an independent way in their everyday lives by the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF).
Federal Government Integration Commissioner Annette Widmann-Mauz stressed the importance of seeing migrants pass the standard, saying, “it’s not just a tick on a paper, but empowers people to establish a social and professional footing.”