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VIENNA (LifeSiteNews) — A 5th-grade student in Vienna, Austria, is being bullied and called a “pig” for being the only Christian among Muslims in his class.
According to a report by Austrian news outlet profil, the 5th-grade student goes to a middle school in Vienna where the majority of students are Muslim. He has been the target of bullying, and his classmates are calling him a “pig” because he is the only Christian in the class.
Profil accompanied a social worker for a week in the lower-class school in the Brigittenau district, attended by mostly poor migrants.
The school remains unnamed to protect teachers and students, but the report states that about 99 percent of the students come from migrant families. Most students speak Turkish or Arabic at home, and Islam is the dominant religion (60 percent of students).
Of the 390 students, half come from households that reportedly rely on government welfare to survive or have incomes well below the poverty line.
Some of the students are as old as 17 (despite middle school normally ending at 8thgrade, with students being 14 years old) because they had to repeat multiple grades.
According to the social worker interviewed in the report, many students are hungry, tired, and unfocused during the Islamic intermittent fasting month of Ramadan. A nearly 16-year-old student said, “Yes, I’ve been fasting since I was eight years old. Everyone does that in Syria.”
The report also addresses forced arranged marriages and female genital mutilation among female students, particularly those from countries such as Egypt, Sudan, or Somalia.
The social worker said the problems are so numerous that they “often make it difficult to conduct classes normally,” as students are absent for weeks and the school cannot reach them or their parents. Some students are engaged in drug offences, robbery, and have already spent time in jail. Incidents of violence have been occurring time and again.
According to the latest data, 41.2 percent of students in elementary and middle schools (ages 6 to 14) in Vienna are Muslims, making up the largest religion in this age group. Christians make up 34.5 percent (17.5 percent Catholic and 14.5 percent Orthodox), while 23 percent have no religious affiliation.
