Education Minister Claude Meisch has clarified how pupils are allocated places when Luxembourg secondary schools receive more applications than they can accommodate.
Luxembourg law does not provide for the concept of a "lycée de proximité", or local secondary school, Meisch said in response to a question from MP Paul Galles of the Christian Social People's Party (CSV). This also means that secondary schools do not have catchment areas that automatically give pupils a right to enrol.
However, pupils are given priority when applying to a lycée located close to where they live.
Proximity to the school and whether a pupil already has siblings attending it are among the criteria taken into account when a lycée receives more applications than it has places available. The ministry ultimately decides where an alternative place is offered, Meisch said in response to a separate question from MPs Sam Tanson and Djuna Bernard of The Greens (déi gréng).
Before the summer holidays, controversy arose after the applications of several pupils from Bonnevoie were transferred to the lycée in Bonnevoie, where a classical secondary stream was due to be introduced from the start of this school year.
Not all parents were satisfied with the alternative after applying to other schools.
By the end of July, however, it had become clear that there were not enough pupils to open the classical secondary stream in Bonnevoie. The ministry now says pupils from Luxembourg City and the surrounding area will instead be offered alternatives at Geesseknäppchen or in Limpertsberg.
For pupils moving from primary school into year 7 this autumn, 126 applications were rejected by schools at Geesseknäppchen, including 76 at Lycée Michel Rodange and 48 at Lycée Aline Mayrisch. The Lycée de garçons in Limpertsberg rejected 26 applications.
According to the minister, 49 applications were transferred to the lycée in Bonnevoie. In response to a follow-up question, the ministry clarified that these pupils were not from Luxembourg City or neighbouring municipalities, but from other parts of the country.
