The number of pupils who require special language instruction, known as SSO, stands at a full 14,000 in the capital. This constitutes 21.6 % of all pupils in Oslo schools.

The average additional cost per pupil with special language instruction lies at approximately 85,000–110,000 kroner per year, depending on whether it concerns lower or upper secondary school, and how intensive the instruction is.

This means that the total annual cost for Oslo municipality for these 14,000 pupils lies at around 1.2–1.5 billion kroner. These costs go towards additional teachers, resource personnel, materials and administration.

The cost of these pupils is substantially higher than for an ordinary pupil without the need for special language instruction.

Pupils from Muslim countries in a clear majority

Public figures for the exact distribution by individual countries have not yet been published for 2025/2026, but here is the most updated picture based on statistics and reports from previous years from the Education Agency and Statistics Norway (SSB):

More than 85 % have non-Western backgrounds.

The clearly largest groups are from:

Pakistan (the single largest group, so being told that Pakistanis are so well integrated in Norway suggests misinformation or outright falsehood).
Somalia
Iraq
Syria
Afghanistan
Turkey
Morocco/Algeria
Iran

The proportion of pupils with backgrounds from Muslim countries clearly constitutes over 70–75 % of the 14,000 pupils. Western minority-language pupils (e.g. from Poland, Lithuania, Vietnam, the Philippines) constitute a far smaller proportion.

The five boroughs with the highest proportion of pupils requiring this special language instruction are Stovner, Grorud, Alna, Gamle Oslo and Søndre Nordstrand. Together, these account for almost 50 % of all pupils with special language instruction in Oslo.

These are also the boroughs with the highest proportion of residents with non-Western backgrounds.

A political failure

Oslo’s City Councillor for Schools, Julie Remen Midtgarden, reacts to these figures.

– It is a systemic failure. Already in 2014 we received reports showing that the language instruction was not good enough. Many have known about the challenges for a long time, but it has taken far too long to do something about them. Without doubt, this is also a political failure, she says to Dagsavisen.

Midtgarden believes this concerns far more than school alone.

– This is not merely a school issue, but also an integration issue. In order to participate in Norwegian society, one must know Norwegian. It concerns both completing school and being able to obtain employment later in life, she says, without mentioning the costs these pupils impose on society, both now, but not least later in life.