Status: May 15, 2021 11:21 a.m.
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The corona pandemic has relentlessly exposed the problems of education policy. The land of poets and thinkers is digitally behind. The more the question arises: What is Education Minister Karliczek actually doing?
From Uwe Jahn,
ARD capital studio
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Federal Minister of Education Anja Karliczek has a certain distance from everyday life at around 40,000 schools in Germany. This is also due to educational federalism: Because between the minister and the schools, the federal states always stand. You are responsible, but have limited resources. Karliczek has little to determine, but money: “Well, we said that in a pandemic that is a situation in which you don’t talk about a normal case, but about a special condition, and you may have to touch the buttons in an extraordinary way.” says the CDU politician.
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Uwe Jahn
ARD capital studio
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However, it takes time for this to be noticed in the classrooms in Germany. Although Karliczek’s ministry is making the digital pact easier due to Corona. It is worth five billion euros and is intended to push Germany’s schools into the digital age. For years, the federal government and the federal states had argued how this money would get from the federal government to the schools. Because of Corona, the teachers are now exempt from delivering educational concepts in advance.
And that is by no means all, emphasizes the minister: “Then we made sure with additional packages that everyone is also equipped with end devices – schoolchildren and teachers.” In addition, the administrators have been professionalized. “So that now no longer individual teachers or even students maintain the devices”, but rather professionals. The total amount of the additional packages is 1.5 billion euros. After all, many student laptops have already been paid for – the other one will come later.
Violent criticism from the opposition
The Green education politician Kai Gehring calls it “snoring-nosed”. “With the digital pact it is like this: It is an old idea that is delayed and implemented too late.” And the whole thing turned out to be a bit bureaucratic. “So especially for municipalities that are financially weak, it is not so easy to get hold of the digital pact.” Which may also be due to the funding guidelines. And they are made by the federal states.
The AfD criticizes the corona policy of the federal and state governments across the board. Despite the digital pact and additional Corona programs, MP Götz Frömming also accuses Federal Education Minister Karliczek of inactivity: “Both the federal government and the governments in the federal states have failed to react to the pandemic in good time. We have had longer phases of school closings and schools Far too little has happened during this time. ” Fromming acknowledges that the federal government is now introducing a catch-up program for schoolchildren. However, in his opinion it should be much bigger.
Not an easy field
The criticism of the Green Bundestag member Gehring starts elsewhere: “In general, education policy is not an easy field, and we need better cooperation between the federal government and the states here.”
In addition, it is important to always keep the role of the municipalities in mind. “A constitution enabling better education would be a great framework,” emphasizes Gehring. And this would have to make the federal, state and local governments into real allies. In the meantime even in the Union it is said: This will require a reform of the century, perhaps even a revolution.
Federal education policy in the pandemic
Uwe Jahn, ARD Berlin, May 14, 2021 3:07 p.m.
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