EA 24-hour vigil by the “Schools must be different” initiative in front of the Berlin House of Representatives is to take a stand this afternoon (5 p.m.) against cuts in the education sector. “We are at the door 24 hours a day and make it clear that investments must be made in education,” said the organizers in view of the current budget negotiations of the red-green-red government coalition. On Friday, the education budget is also an issue in the Education Committee of the House of Representatives.
The initiators of the vigil have publicly called for people to join the protest for an hour or two or to spend the night in front of the state parliament. Demands on state politics are to be collected on a “wish tree”.
The vigil is scheduled to culminate in a rally at 3:30 p.m. on Friday. An open letter is to be handed over to education and budgetary politicians from the House of Representatives, which the State Parents’ Committee, the School in Need initiative and GEW Berlin, among others, have signed.
The letter to MPs and members of the Senate says under the heading “Invest in education now instead of saving at the expense of the children”: “We are very concerned that you are not living up to your responsibilities in relation to education and schools.”
Among other things, the signatories demand that a double-digit million sum be planned in the budget for multi-professional teams in the schools, that the sum originally planned for school construction be actually taken into account and that the construction of new schools not be postponed. They are also committed to not skimping on teacher training and to continuing the “Best Education for Berlin” program accordingly, with an annual budget of 6.55 million euros.
–
