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Girls in private lessons (archive): Don't waste time
Photo: Uwe Anspach / dpa
For more than a year now, educational and leisure activities for children and young people have been canceled.
In order to cushion the consequences of the corona for them, the federal cabinet wants to launch the corona catch-up package this Wednesday.
The two billion euro project is intended to finance tutoring and social measures.
One billion euros is to be invested in tutoring and support programs for students who have built up a long learning curve.
The second billion is earmarked for topping up various social programs to alleviate the social and psychological consequences of the crisis for children and young people.
This also involves a one-off payment of 100 euros for children from low-income families.
The money should be able to be used for vacation, sports and leisure activities as required.
Pay special attention to children and young people from refugee and immigrant families
The German Association of Cities called for the catch-up program to be implemented quickly. "We have to help children and young people immediately so that they can cope with the social and psychological consequences of the lockdowns," said Vice President Markus Lewe of the editorial network Germany (RND). Time and energy should not be wasted on complicated application procedures. Lewe, who is also mayor of Münster, also called on the federal states to "noticeably" supplement the federal money with their own funds.
State Minister for Integration Annette Widmann-Mauz (CDU) spoke out in favor of paying particular attention to children and young people from refugee and immigrant families and increasing language and leisure activities for them. Her families are particularly hard hit by the effects of the pandemic, she told the RND. Many work in professions in which home office is not possible, such as care or retail or in the hospitality industry, which is more affected by short-time work or unemployment.
Giffey and Karliczek also want to present plans to create a legal right to all-day care in primary school. Shortly before the end of the legislative period, the grand coalition is attempting to implement one of its central projects in the field of education and families. According to the draft law of the Federal Ministry of Family Affairs and the Federal Ministry of Education, children who start school from the school year 2025/2026 should be entitled to all-day care in the first four school years - for at least eight hours on weekdays and also during holidays.
Some federal states, especially in the east, already have well-developed all-day care, either in the form of all-day schools or as a combination of school and after-school care center.
In other countries, a lot would still have to be invested in order to be able to meet the legal entitlement from 2025.
Because of the immense costs for ongoing operations, personnel and investments in the primary schools, there is still a dispute today.
The federal states are demanding greater federal financial participation.
Approval in the Bundesrat and implementation of the project up to the Bundestag election are therefore open.
The government had already promised EUR 3.5 billion for investments and ongoing participation in operating costs.
In the draft law, three-digit million amounts are named annually by the federal government.
kha / dpa