Since 2019, there has been an annual pool of 3.3 million DKK that Danish school classes could apply for to visit Greenland or the Faroe Islands.
From this year, the rules will be changed fundamentally: Now, Greenlandic and Faroese classes can also get a share of the money to travel to Denmark or visit each other.
With the inclusion of Greenland and the Faroe Islands in the pool, its amount will be adjusted by 1 million DKK annually in addition to the 3.3 million DKK – so there is a total of 4.3 million DKK in the travel pool, which will be available to the young people of the Realm.
The initiative aims to strengthen ties within the Commonwealth, and each country is responsible for the allocation of funds to its own educational institutions.
North Atlantic Grammar School Class Strengthened
The North Atlantic Grammar School Class has been an experiment since 2019, and will now become a permanent upper secondary education. The state will finance the education with 3 million kroner each year.
From 2028, 2 million kroner will be allocated annually to build and operate a boarding house (a dormitory) at Gribskov Gymnasium. This ensures that the Greenlandic and Faroese students in the NGK class have a permanent and safe place to live in Denmark.
The Commonwealth Week
The Commonwealth is under pressure, and therefore the Minister wants children in Denmark to learn much more about Greenland and the Faroe Islands in order to strengthen unity.
- The current world situation is putting democracy under pressure. The turmoil in the world reminds us that unity is not a given, but something that must be held on to. There is a need to strengthen the Danish Commonwealth, and that work starts in school, says Minister for Children and Education Mattias Tesfaye.
From 2027 a new, voluntary theme week called the Danish Commonwealth Week will be introduced, where schools can focus on the Danish Commonwealth's shared history and modern life.
2 million kroner will be allocated for 2026, and thereafter 1 million kroner annually, to produce teaching material, which will be produced in collaboration with people who actually know something about Greenland and the Faroe Islands.
The goal is for Danish students to not only learn about the past, but also understand the community that the Danish Commonwealth has today.
More compulsory teaching of the Danish Empire
In Denmark, it is already compulsory to teach about the Danish Empire in history. However, the Minister of Education now wants to strengthen the subject further by investigating how it can also be included in the curricula of other relevant subjects in primary school.
