The lights go out: The boarding school of the Benedictine Abbey Ettal is closed.
An era will end in the summer of 2024.
The gradual decline in the number of pupils prompted the monastery to make the decision.
The Benedictine Abbey has made a decision: The boarding school will be closed at the end of the school year 2023/2024.
The number of students has been falling for years.
There were numerous reasons for this step.
These include the abuse scandal and the development of all-day care in Germany.
The abbey is investing a six-figure sum in the grammar school and day care center.
Ettal
- Post from Ettal.
From the top.
Provided with the coat of arms of Abbot Barnabas Bögle.
The clergyman wrote a letter to parents, students and colleagues on Saturday.
In the very first sentence he brings the bad news: After long and serious considerations, the abbot writes, the monastery has decided to close the boarding school at the end of the school year 2023/2024.
The high school and day care center are not affected, instead they are being modernized.
The resolution of the Benedictine Abbey Convention is the last chapter in a 300-year history.
Abbot Placidius II. Seitz laid the foundation stone for the school and boarding school on August 7, 1710.
Back then as a knight academy, an educational institution for sons of noble families.
At the beginning of 1900 the humanistic grammar school and boarding school developed from it.
Celebrities like Franz Herzog von Bayern, head of the House of Wittelsbach, the US expert Stephan Bierling or Hamburg's former mayor Klaus von Dohnanyi took lessons in the elite forge.
But the rosy times are a thing of the past.
Ettal boarding school: Currently only about 30 students
While in the 1980s over 200 students attended the boarding school, the monastery has since struggled with a gradual decline in numbers.
In 2009 only 13 fifth graders were registered, in 2014/2015 not a single one.
The monastery left no stone unturned to free itself from the valley floor.
For the first time girls were accepted, as well as children from distant countries such as China or Mexico, and they cooperated with the Bavarian Ski Association.
But now those responsible are defeated.
“Despite all our efforts,” says Bögle, “we were unable to turn the trend.” For a long time it became clear that the boarding school - the cost of all-round care is currently 1250 euros per month - currently has around 30 students, both from an organizational perspective how for business reasons it can no longer be managed in an educationally responsible manner.
A painful but well thought out step.
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Abbot Barnabas Bögle gives the reasons for the decision.
© Andreas Mayr
The reasons for this are diverse.
Above all, however, the monastery freely admits, the sharp drop in registrations is related to the difficult legacy - the scandal of 2010 that brought the abbey into the headlines across Germany.
It was then that it came to light what had happened behind the monastery walls for decades: those under protection had been physically and sexually abused.
The image damage - immense.
There, leaving one's children in care - unthinkable for many parents.
At the same time Ettal joins a closure list.
In the past few years, for example, the boarding schools in the Steinfeld or Metten monasteries were closed.
All of them were and are exposed to a nationwide development: the expansion of all-day care.
Ettal boarding school closes: Corona as accelerator
Added to this are the increasing requirements for a modern company.
And that for a shrinking convention.
"We do not see ourselves in a position in terms of personnel or finances to permanently adapt the boarding school to the steadily growing framework conditions," emphasizes the dept., Especially since the corona crisis is having a hard impact on the monastery businesses.
"That accelerated our decision."
The time for the end was deliberately set for summer 2024.
Then the eight-year high school expires.
“This is a natural turning point anyway,” says Bögle.
In addition, there would still be enough time for parents of children of younger age to plan their further school career.
The monastery offers individual advice.
Eight students who have to reorient themselves are currently affected.
The others will already have their Abitur in their pockets due to the transition phase when the building closes.
Or they live so close to Ettal that a visit to the grammar school and day care center is still possible in the future.
There is also a new line.
Since a pedagogical specialist cannot be entrusted with this task immediately and has to be trained, Father Sebastian Fischer has been responsible as interim director since Monday.
"He has many years of experience as a prefect in our boarding school," confirms Bögle.
A qualified pedagogue will follow him shortly and manage the facility as well as the day care center.
First time a woman!
Big investments in high school
In future, the Benedictines will focus on the grammar school and the adjoining day care center.
The number of students - stable.
For the latter, demand has even increased in recent years.
That also played a role in the decision.
Only in this way “can we guarantee that we will be able to guarantee the necessary investments at the grammar school in the next few years”, emphasizes the clergyman.
The abbey is currently investing a six-figure amount in sustainable improvements.
This includes the further expansion of the digital offer and the promotion of traditionally important musical and sporting areas.
“The goal is to divide each year into two classes and lead them to the Abitur”, says Bögle.
In order to support the children and young people as individually as possible, the abbey is still ready to set up classes with a small number of students.
The abbot knows that the closure of the boarding school may not appeal to everyone, especially some former students, and that it does not seem understandable.
But he assures: "We didn't make it easy for ourselves," he clarifies.
The end of the era is based on a process that has taken years.
