The city administration itself had approved the school’s request in a draft decision. An application had also already been submitted to the North Rhine Westphalia schools ministry. As reported, the city administration had concluded that as Bonn is a United Nations city, it was in the public interest for the school to expand its offer beyond primary schooling in future. They said the offer of secondary schooling at IBIS would probably primarily be taken up by pupils who had already completed their primary schooling there.

“We have real concerns that another private international school will ultimately lead to an oversupply in Bonn and to international pupils being separated,” was how Tim Achtermeyer (Greens), chairman of the schools committee, explained the rejection by the majority of the committee members. He referred to the wide range of international school-leaving qualifications in the state’s public secondary schools.

(Original text: lis; translated by Kate Carey.)