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Schoolchildren in class (symbol picture): »Lost Generation«?
Photo: Frank Rumpenhorst / picture alliance / dpa
The Federal Cabinet launched the “Catching Up Action Program” on Wednesday. One billion euros is earmarked for tutoring and support programs for students who have to catch up with learning delays. Another billion euros are to be invested in social measures in order to cushion the psychological consequences of the crisis for children and young people. The aim here is to increase existing programs in the area of early childhood education, school social work and leisure activities.
Federal Education Minister Anja Karliczek (CDU) said that learning backlogs should be reduced, especially in the core subjects of German and mathematics, and also in foreign languages.
When presenting the program, she made it clear: “We want to ensure that the children and adolescents do not suffer any scars from the pandemic.
Scars on the one hand from learning backlogs and missed lessons, but also because they could not meet their friends for a long time, sport was not possible. "
Groundbreaking resolutions
Karliczek spoke of "groundbreaking decisions" for the future of children.
One has to assume that 20 to 25 percent of the pupils have significant learning deficits due to school closings.
Federal Family Minister Franziska Giffey (SPD) rated the catch-up package as a "clear signal that we take children and young people and their families into account."
It is not only about catching up on the missed subject matter, but also about extracurricular educational and leisure activities.
A one-off payment of 100 euros is also planned for children from families who are dependent on Hartz IV or who only have a very low income.
The money should be able to be used for vacation, sports and leisure activities as required.
530 million euros are planned for this, as well as for holiday camps and extracurricular activities.
SPD parliamentary leader Carsten Schneider described the package as "a political signal from the federal government that we will not leave municipalities and states, whose original task this is, to do alone." There shouldn't be a "lost generation"; the federal government bears its joint responsibility for this. Of the two billion, 700 million were to be granted as direct grants, while 1.3 billion went to the federal states.
The cabinet also passed a bill for a legal right to all-day care for elementary school students. The Union and the SPD had agreed on the project in the coalition agreement. According to the plans of the Federal Ministry of Family Affairs and the Federal Ministry of Education, children who start school from the school year 2026/2027 should be entitled to all-day care in the first four school years - for at least eight hours on weekdays and also during holidays. The federal government wants to provide 3.5 billion euros for this.
The start was originally planned a year earlier.
Because of criticism from the countries, there should now be more time for the expansion, as the news agency dpa learned from government circles on Wednesday.
The federal states had also called for a greater financial contribution from the federal government to the running costs for the all-day places.
According to the information, there is also a concession here.
The approval of the federal states in the Bundesrat is required for the project
kha / dpa / AFP / Reuters
