The pandemic has made the weaknesses of the German education system clear - especially when it comes to equal opportunities.
The Greens hope that at least lessons will be learned from this.
Berlin - So that children and young people do not forego lessons and community again this fall due to Corona, the Greens believe that schools must now be made safe with air filters and test strategies quickly.
It is important "that the next school year is crisis-proof," said Chancellor candidate Annalena Baerbock on Friday at an online press conference.
The prime minister would have to promise that daycare centers and schools would only be affected by any new measures that may be necessary to contain the pandemic after all other areas, the party chairman demanded. In the event of a fourth wave, school and daycare closings should only be considered as a “last resort” from the perspective of the Greens. Children who do not have a good learning environment at home should continue to have the opportunity to be able to learn supervised at school even if the school closes.
The Greens do not want to shake the general responsibility of the federal states for school education. In her opinion, however, the coordination between the various levels of government must run better than before. In the “impulse paper for a national education offensive” that has just been presented, it says: “From now on, the municipalities, the states and the federal government should jointly bear responsibility for ensuring that schools become the most beautiful and modern places in the country” about competencies and no pots of federal funds for school construction and renovation that would then not be used by poor communities that lack administrative staff.
In the long term, it is not so much about pumping more money into the education system, said Baerbock. Rather, it is more important that the funds arrive where they are most urgently needed - in primary schools and with children from poor families, said Baerbock. With a new education and participation law, the Greens want to ensure that children who are entitled to learning support and other forms of support actually receive them.
The Greens are also in favor of founding a federal agency for digital education. This should be a central "contact and liaison point" for all schools. The application for funds from the federal digital pact must be simplified for the school authorities. With the digital pact for schools, the federal government wants to support the equipping of schools with computer technology from 2019 to 2024 with 6.5 billion euros. At the end of 2020, almost 1.4 billion euros had been approved nationwide, but only a small part of it had actually been spent. dpa