GÄLLIVARE. The municipality lured with free housing or money for the move. 21 teachers took the bait. Per Han, 64, left life in Stockholm for the mining town. Now he lives in an old nursing home.
– The red carpet was rolled out for me, he says.
A clipping from Dagens Nyheter, 2026-09-20 17:30
Original article address: https://www.dn.se/sverige/per-lamnade-stockholm-for-jobb-och-gratis-boende/
GÄLLIVARE. The municipality lured with free housing or money for the move. 21 teachers took the bait. Per Han, 64, left life in Stockholm for the mining town. Now he lives in an old nursing home.
– The red carpet was rolled out for me, he says.
You know you can create a free account on DN? As a logged-in user you can access several smart functions.
Computers do not enter Per Han's classroom, but pen and paper do.
– At least the students haven't complained so far.
His last lesson for the day, Swedish as a second language for a ninth-grader, has just ended. On the desk in front of him are Per Han's six neat stacks of the students' notebooks.
The backpack becomes a safe storage for the books that need to go home for correction before he goes down the school's stairs to the bicycle.
The corridors are poorly navigated, he has only managed to walk there for a few workdays.
Per Han is one of 21 teachers who took the "Gällivare package," a collection of offers that should solve the teacher shortage in the municipality. Those who said yes were offered six months of free accommodation in a staff residence, rent subsidies if they find their own accommodation or a relocation grant of about 45,000 kronor. The package is a four-year project for which the municipality invests 28 million kronor.
– I would like to assert that we have the toughest school situation in all of Sweden, with the lowest qualification for both preschool and primary school, says the municipality's school principal Peter Olsson.
The last few years have been demanding, he states. Last year, the National Agency for Education took over the upper secondary school Sjöparksskolan, which has only happened once before in Sweden. They pointed out several shortcomings such as insufficient teaching time, inadequate routines for teaching immigrant students, and teacher shortages. According to the National Agency for Education, only every other teacher was qualified and licensed.
But to attract new staff, housing was needed. Some rooms in a nursing home were renovated.
– It is absolutely not permanent housing. The ambition is that they should start to enter the municipality's housing stock so that they stay, says Peter Olsson.
He sighs and continues.
– I cannot stress enough that housing needs to be built here, it is not being done today.
But, he means, the state also needs to reintroduce relocation grants to unemployed people and invest in state investment support to build housing. The depreciation of student loans for those who find a job in the north should also be reviewed.
Meanwhile, Gällivare continues to look for qualified teachers. Through a European project, agreements have been made with eleven teachers in Spain.
– They have started a year of Swedish studies in Spain. When they get there, they will start by working as assistants, for example, to get into the system, before they can get their teacher qualifications.
Currently, the proportion of qualified teachers has increased to 71 percent at Sjöparksskolan, just below the 75 percent that is the national average for a primary school. But the hope is that Gällivare will have a qualification rate of 100 percent in the near future. But then it would be good if a teacher like Per Han wants to stay, Peter Olsson says.
In the corridor of the old nursing home, Peter Han points to the doors he passes.
– There lives a Swedish as a second language teacher and further away a gym teacher.
He unlocks the door to his small single room.
– Come in, you don't need to take off your shoes.
A sliding door leads to the toilet and the open plan witnesses that previous residents needed certain adaptations. Colorful textiles hang on the walls and in one of the corners there is an instrument.
– I might have made the most effort of all to make myself at home. Damn, you have to feel comfortable.
In the kitchen, the lamps are covered with a layer of aluminum foil, the brightness needed to be dimmed a little, notes Per Han.
With the new life in Gällivare, he has rented out the apartment in Stockholm. In the capital, he worked in the advertising industry until he decided to change course and become a teacher. As a 62-year-old, he finished and after a year as a teacher in Husby read an article in DN. There, the Gällivare school principal described the municipality as an area in need.
– I did my internship in a particularly deprived area, so I know what it is like in a Swedish particularly deprived area. And I couldn't put the picture together in Gällivare. So after I read this article, I wrote an email.
It went quickly. Within a few weeks he had managed to meet the school principal at a fair in Stockholm, visited Gällivare and signed contracts.
Do you notice the difference when you lived in Stockholm versus Gällivare?
– I have sent pictures home and my friends think I look so happy.
Do you notice it yourself?
– Yes, but I guess so. There are fewer distractions here. I have gained more time for myself and for music, I hear my own thoughts here.
Whether he will stay in Gällivare, he does not know.
– Right now it feels like the red carpet is rolled out for me, but you can ask me in a year.