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Belgian gov't officials to be tested for bilingualism

Xinhua, October 21, 2016 Adjust font size:

A total of 133 senior government officials must take an oral exam to prove mastery of the national languages, Flemish media reported on Friday.

The office of Steven Vandeput, the defense minister also in charge of civil servants, said bilingualism is necessary in public administration to avoid having "teams where employees and those in leading functions don't always communicate efficiently."

The bill on "functional bilingualism" for government officials was passed in 2002, without being strictly applied until now.

The senior officials will have to pass the test within six and 30 months (depending on if they are currently serving or have been recruited to serve in the future) or risk dismissal.

Some 4,000 government officials with leading functions do not risk losing their jobs, but will not be allowed to evaluate their subordinates using another language if they fail the test.

Vandeput explained that some special training will be provided to help government officials prepare for the test. Enditem