Status: 27/09/2023, 16:19 p.m.
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A teacher teaches a class. © Marijan Murat/dpa/Symbolbild
The Federal Government's Start Opportunities Programme is to support 900 schools in difficult situations in North Rhine-Westphalia. It is about almost 250,000 students, said school state secretary Urban Mauer on Wednesday in the school committee of the state parliament. According to the plans, NRW will receive 230 million euros annually from the federal government for the program.
Dusseldorf - In addition, co-financing has been agreed. There are a total of around 5400 schools in NRW.
The starting opportunities schools would be selected by the Ministry of Education, Mauer continued. According to the programme, key factors in the selection of schools should be the extent to which children and young people are affected by poverty at a school and how many pupils come from families with a migrant background. NRW is "not starting from scratch", as there are already 64 talent schools in Germany's most populous state, which were also a model for the traffic light start opportunity program in Berlin, Mauer said. The talent schools would be dovetailed with the federal program.
According to Mauer, the country wants to include the school-specific social index in the selection of schools. 60 per cent of pupils in the Opportunities Programme should learn at primary level, especially at primary and special schools, and 40 per cent at secondary schools. This also includes vocational colleges, "because we also see a considerable need here," Mauer said.
Last week, the federal and state governments agreed on key points for the start opportunity program for schools in difficult situations planned by the traffic light government. A total of 4000,<> schools in Germany with around one million pupils can expect billions of euros in special state funding in the coming years. They are to be supported, for example, in investing in a better and more modern learning environment as well as in a more attractive working environment for staff. In addition, there are funds for the free disposal of the schools - a so-called opportunity budget. In addition, additional positions for school social work are to be created.
The funding programme is to run for ten years. The federal government wants to provide up to one billion euros annually. The federal states are to contribute the same amount, whereby they may credit their own similar funding programmes that are already underway. Dpa
