The office quoted Carinthian authorities as saying that that the main reason for closing bilingual schools is adjusting the number of teachers to other comparable Austrian regions and raising the quality of education.

The office moreover said that the reorganisation complied with the Austrian act on minority education in Carinthia from 1959, which regulates bilingual education in the area populated by a Slovenian minority there.

Over the last school year, the Slovenian language was taught in 66 primary schools in the area covered by the law. Besides, there were another two bilingual schools in the city of Klagenfurt.

By the beginning of the next school year, bilingual classes will be taught in a total of 65 primary schools in Carinthia.

In the last school year, 2,240 children went to bilingual classes, which is around 45% of all primary-school children in the bilingual area.

The number of primary-school children attending bilingual classes rose by 1.3% compared with the previous school year, according to the office.

It furthermore pointed out that the minority should be an equal partner in talks on education with the Austrian authorities, and that no rights should be reduced without the minority's consent.

Slovenia will advocate solutions in the area of education that will be in favour of the Slovenian minority in Carinthia, the office said.

Indeed, the office will keep supporting the on-going cooperation between the Faculty of Education in Ljubljana and the Carinthian High School of Education regarding language training and the exchange of future bilingual teachers.