Stranded pupils mount Stockholm protest against IES school closure
Parents of some of the 159 pupils left stranded by the IES school chain's decision to close its only upper secondary school mounted a protest on Thursday, calling for Stockholm City's education department to intervene to save the school.
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Parents of students at Internationella Engelska Gymnasiet Södermalm (IEGS) gathered outside the offices of the city education department near Stockholm City Hall on Thursday afternoon, hoping to raise awareness of the plight of the students, many of whom are likely to struggle to find an alternative school where they can complete their final year of school.
"We don't want another school," Pierre Achi, one of the parents told The Local of the school's plan to close down when current first-year students still have one more year to complete their education.
"For the first time in my daughter's life, she has landed in a place where she really is happy and is actually motivated to go to school. We have high hopes for at least one extra year, so that she can graduate, which is not too much to ask."
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In a press release issued at the start of February, the school chain said it would close the school in June 2026, with no new students admitted for the 2025-2026 school year this coming August.
This means that while the 391 students already in grades two and three will be able to complete their education at IEGS, the 159 students who joined the school in August 2024 will need to find a new school to complete their final year.
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Achi said that while teachers at IEGS were sympathetic to the students' and parents' concerns, they had as yet had no positive communication with the leadership of the Internationella Engelska Skolan chain indicating that they might reevaluate the decision.
In a press release announcing the protests, the parents said that students would be severely impacted by the decision.
"This is a terrible, avoidable, example of the crisis within the friskolor [free school] system as reported in recent media coverage. It highlights the real world, disruptive impact on the education of the 159 students in question, and their families," they wrote.
"IES has no plans in place to help students find new schools. These students are now stranded and must fend for themselves in finding new gymnasiums. Many students may struggle to do so as they could find it hard to speak Swedish to the required standard to switch to schools teaching the Swedish curriculum in Swedish."
The protest is taking place between 3pm and 6pm at Hantverkargatan 2F, Stockholm.
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