One in five students lacks grades for upper secondary 

As many as one in five students in Sweden have left compulsory primary school (grundskola), in Sweden without earning the necessary qualifications to go on to upper secondary school (gymnasium) preliminary statistics collected from Sweden’s five biggest municipalities have shown. 

In Stockholm, 87 percent of pupils reached the required level, in Malmö, it was 81 percent, and in Gothenburg only 77 percent of pupils earned the necessary grades to move on to upper secondary school. 

“It’s obvious that there around enough resources to get pupils to the required level,” said Christian Lundahl, a professor of education at Örebro University.

“It would absolutely be possible to improve the number of students qualifying if more resources were given so schools could provide support to the groups of pupils falling out of the system.” 

Swedish vocabulary: behörighet – qualification

Price of flats and houses falls again in July

The price of flats and houses fell by 1.1 percent in July, although when seasonally adjusted prices of both rose slightly, with the price of apartments up 0.4 percent and detached houses up by 0.2 percent.

“It’s a bit surprising that the price of flats is developing better than that of detached houses this year because many apartment cooperatives (bostadsrättsföreningar) are facing higher monthly fees,” said Robert Boije, chief economist at the publicly owned mortgage lender SBAB. 

Swedish vocabulary: förvånande – surprising 

Murder at sea suspected after death in Gothenburg Archipelago 

Police in western Sweden have seized a man for suspected murder after another man died in a boating accident in the Gothenburg Archipelago on Thursday. 

 A rescue operation was launched after a passing boat reported a man overboard following a yachting accident 25km offshore, west of the island of Rörö. 

About half an hour later the man was winched out of the water and taken to hospital by helicopter, but his life could not be saved.

A second man, who had also fallen into the water, was picked up by the rescue services, only to later be charged with suspected murder. 

Swedish vocabulary: en räddningsinsats – a rescue operation

Swedish teens held in Denmark after shootings in Kolding and Copenhagen

Two Swedish teenagers, of17 and 16 years old, have been placed in pre-trial detention in Denmark after carrying out two shootings in Kolding and Copenhagen on Wednesday. 

According to Danish police, the two youths were recruited on social media to commit crimes in Denmark. In the Kolding shooting a man was shot at least three times in the leg, and in the Copenhagen shooting, at the Blågårds Plads square in Nørrebro, no one was injured. 

“We have seen that criminals are looking for people willing to commit serious crimes on social media and that young Swedes unfortunately are agreeing to do so for payment,” Torben Svarrer, from the Danish police’s unit for serious crimes, told the TT newswire. 

Swedish vocabulary: värvas på sociala medier – recruited on social media 

Police investigate yet another accident at Northvolt 

Police in Sweden are investigating yet another accident at Northvolt’s battery facility in Skellefteå, after an employee received burns to their forehead after getting sprayed in the face with solvent. 

The accident happened on Sunday during the cleaning of a pipe and although the worker was wearing a face mask it did not cover their entire head. 

“We have launched a preliminary investigation into workplace environment crimes and causing bodily damage through negligence,” Elisabeth Glaas, a police press spokesperson, told the Aftonbladet newspaper.

The factory has been hit by several accidents and police are currently investigating the case of three men in Skellefteå who were mysteriously found dead after their shift at the factory.

It is still unclear if their deaths were caused by something they were exposed to during their shift. 

Swedish vocabulary: rengöring – cleaning