Annoyance among parents

Survey at school causes new halal fuss

This survey caused a stir among the parents concerned.(Bild: Krone KREATIV/Ilia Nesolenyi/stock.adobe.com, zVg)

Once again there is an uproar about halal meat at a school in Lower Austria. This time, a letter from a teacher at the Europaschule Wiener Neustadt caused an outcry. It is also about preferences for cooking lessons ...

For the second time in just a few days, a teacher's letter about cooking lessons has caused quite a stir. After - as reported - a shopping list in a secondary school in Felixdorf, district of Wiener Neustadt, caused protests because parents should only buy meat from Turkish supermarkets, it is now the message from a teacher in the district capital a few kilometers away.

"Resembles a compulsion to buy"
Although the cooking lessons at the European School in Wiener Neustadt only asked who only eats halal meat, for some parents this goes too far. "Because it's like being forced to buy. Nine of the eleven pupils in my child's group ticked the box. This survey seems to have found a loophole," says one father, who immediately draws a comparison with Felixdorf.

However, in contrast to the situation in the neighboring municipality, the education directorate is now behaving more cautiously: "A survey was carried out here, based on which purchases are made and the needs of individual pupils are taken into account." However, the form was designed by the teacher and is not a general requirement. "We only advise schools to pay attention to a healthy diet and to buy regional food", according to the Education Directorate.

 FPÖ: "Pupils are the victims of mass migration"
FPÖ Member of Parliament Michael Sommer is more explicit: "Our pupils must not be the victims of mass migration. As you can see in Felixdorf and Wiener Neustadt, this is not an isolated case."