Danish school students have got ‘significantly worse’ at reading and maths
The OECD's latest PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) report was released yesterday, and it doesn’t make for great reading for Danish school pupils.
Results of the report show that reading and mathematics standards for 15-year-olds in Denmark have dropped noticeably since the preceding report. The students matched previous performances in science subjects.
In maths, Danish students achieved an average of 489 points. That compares to 509 in the most recent previous PISA report in 2018.
The score for reading fell from 501 in 2018 to 489 in 2022.
Education Minister Mattias Tesfaye said that Covid-19 had impacted students but that the results should nevertheless be taken seriously.
“These aren’t just variations within statistical uncertainty. What we have here are significant results. 15-year-olds in 2022 are worse at reading and maths than 15.year.olds were in 2018,” he said.
“If I’m fortunate enough to still be minister here in three years, those numbers will look different,” he said.
Vocabulary: elever – school students
Denmark wants EU climate target of 90 percent by 2040
Denmark has become the first country to state that the EU should aim to reduce its CO2 emissions by 90 percent by 2040.
Climate Minister Lars Aargaard called at the ongoing COP28 climate summit in Dubai for EU talks over a 2040 target.
“I hope that we, with our statement, can inspire others to announce levels of at least 90 percent,” Aagaard said.
“I encourage our European neighbours at home and at the COP that the EU should raise its ambitions on what comes after 2030,” he said in quotes reported by Danish news wire Rtizau.
Vocabulary: klimamål – climate targets
UAE extradites Briton wanted for fraud to Denmark
The United Arab Emirates yesterday extradited a British hedge fund trader accused of massive fraud and money laundering to Denmark to face charges, the official WAM news agency reported.
Sanjay Shah, who was arrested in Dubai in June 2022, is wanted over an alleged 1.7 billion euro scam to help companies fraudulently claim Danish tax refunds.
"The extradition confirms the UAE's determination to collaborate with international partners in the pursuit of international justice, and to strengthen the integrity of the international financial system," WAM said.
In May, a Dubai court ordered Shah to pay Denmark's tax authority nearly $1.3 billion as well as five-percent interest accrued from when the case was first lodged in August 2018.
Shah was accused of running a scheme for three years starting in 2012 in which foreign firms pretended to own shares in Danish companies and claimed refunds.
Shah has said he is not guilty and claims he did not violate Danish law, according to media in the United Arab Emirates.
He was extradited under a treaty signed between the UAE and Denmark in March 2022.
Danish transport workers join Swedish Tesla strike
Swedish metalworkers' union IF Metall's strike against US car manufacturer Tesla is spreading to Denmark, with the country's largest union announcing solidarity action in support of their Swedish neighbours.
Denmark's biggest union 3F said on Tuesday its transport workers would launch a strike in solidarity with Tesla workers in neighbouring Sweden on December 18th if Tesla refuses to sign a Swedish collective wage agreement.
"All members of 3F Transport are covered by the solidarity movement. This means that dockers and hauliers will not unload Tesla cars nor transport them into Sweden," 3F said in a statement.
The Swedish strike, launched by the metal workers' union IF Metall, began on October 27th when some 130 mechanics at 10 Tesla repair shops in seven cities walked off the job.
It has since grown into a larger conflict between the US electric car giant and almost a dozen unions seeking to protect Sweden's labour model.
"Solidarity is the cornerstone of the union movement and stretches beyond national borders," the chairman of Denmark's 3F Transport, Jan Villadsen, said in Tuesday's statement.
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