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Practical experience in the teaching kitchen: The jury recognized the "high professional level" and a strong connection to the living environment
Photo: Patricia Haas / RBB Müritz Waren
One award comes from the students themselves: "We learn more here than at our previous schools," they say about their Regional Vocational Training Center Müritz in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, according to a member of the jury for the German School Prize.
Now the 1400 young people at the vocational school can boast that they are learning at the best school in Germany: Federal Education Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger (FDP) presented the main prize, which is endowed with 100,000 euros, in Berlin on Wednesday.
role model for other schools
"Good schools and their innovative concepts must be made visible and appreciated," explained Stark-Watzinger on behalf of Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD), who is suffering from Corona.
Scholz announced that the award winners were role models for other schools.
»They show how school can be successful in all its diversity and how every student can be reached with good teaching.«
The regional vocational training center in Müritz provides training for the job market of the future, the jury explained.
"Although practical training is not mandatory in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, the school has managed to integrate practical work into the classroom to a large extent," explained jury spokesman Michael Schratz.
More modern equipment than in operation
The practical relevance is supported by simulation laboratories.
Pupils at school often learned on more modern equipment than in their companies.
The jury recognized the "high professional level" and a strong connection to the living environment.
An "appreciative and empathetic approach" in school and in the classroom is also clearly perceptible.
Four other award winners
An elementary school in Berlin, an integrated comprehensive school in Lower Saxony, a vocational school in North Rhine-Westphalia and the German European School in Singapore received four further prizes of EUR 30,000 each.
A total of 15 schools were nominated.
The ten non-awarded schools from Baden-Württemberg, North Rhine-Westphalia, Berlin, Bremen, Saarland, Saxony-Anhalt and Schleswig-Holstein received recognition prizes of 5,000 euros each.
The German School Prize is awarded annually by the Robert Bosch Foundation and the Heidehof Foundation.
81 schools applied this year.
sun/dpa