Morning situation in Saxony: teacher shortage; Olympics; Green Vault; Hilbert

40,500 Saxon children have their first day of school today. © dpa

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Good morning,

Maybe you’ll agree with me: a garden party with wild children running around is part of the first day of school. And so at the weekend, our courtyard was filled with noises that were a bit reminiscent of an outdoor swimming pool. When Spotify then played “Sound of Silence” by Simon & Garfunkel, I had to laugh inside. Well, for 40,500 children in Saxony, today is certainly the exciting first day of school. Good luck and, above all, have fun learning!

It is also to be hoped that children will be aware of as little as possible of the problems in the education system. The number one problem is the lack of lessons due to the lack of teachers, as shown by the analysis of our Saxony Compass, the large survey before the state elections. 64 percent of participants want a solution to the problem. If you are interested in further results, I recommend our new podcast.

Now, due to the financial difficulties in the Free State, the hiring of school assistants at 180 schools has been halted for the time being. as the Freie Presse reportsBut what could actually help to combat the teacher shortage? My colleague Andrea Schawe has put together seven ideas – from employing older teachers to introducing a four-day school week.

Is Minister of Education Christian Piwarz paying enough attention to these solutions or is he wasting his time on side issues? This is the question being asked by the State Student Council, as our colleagues at Freie Presse reportThe reason is that Piwarz has now ordered that the use of special characters within a word – keyword: gender language – is considered a spelling mistake. It can therefore be stated that Saxony will have too few teachers in the new school year that begins today. However, the capital “I” and the asterisk have been banned from Saxony’s schools for the time being.

I wish you a good start to the week.

Yours, Tobias Winzer, political editor Sächsische.de

The most important thing in the morning:

GDR civil rights activist: “Is it possible that Wagenknecht is lying?”

The BSW around party leader Sahra Wagenknecht wants to enter the state parliament in the upcoming state elections in Saxony, Thuringia and Brandenburg and also has a good chance of being involved in governments. In an open letter signed by historian Ilko-Sascha Kowalczuk, among others, on Sunday on platform X former GDR civil rights activists accuse the BSW of lying. “Is it possible that the party founder is lying?” ask the signatories. “Yes, it is not only possible, it is obviously so.” The democratic parties – “we are thinking here in particular of the CDU” – should therefore consider whether they want to form a coalition “with such liars” after the state elections or whether they want to be tolerated by them. There are also reactions from Saxony’s state politicians.

German Olympic bid: scepticism prevails

The federal government supports a possible Olympic bid for 2040 with a basic agreement. However, surveys by Civey show that people in Germany and Saxony view this critically. According to the survey, 43 percent of respondents from Saxony reject a bid for the 2040 Summer Games. 29 percent would be in favor, the remaining 28 percent are not sure. The result is similar nationwide. However, more than a third of Germans (36 percent) would be open to the idea. However, at 41 percent, most Germans are also against the Olympic plans. A look at the details of the survey results is interesting. It becomes clear that openness is particularly low among those who also say they will vote for the AfD.

Green Vault reveals parts of stolen jewels

Some of the jewels stolen in November 2019 during a break-in at the Historic Green Vault are now to be presented to the public, despite ongoing confiscation by the regional court. In December 2022, the public prosecutor’s office, the Soko Epaulette and the Saxony State Criminal Police Office succeeded in securing a significant portion of the stolen treasures. In addition to its regular opening hours, the Historic Green Vault will also be open from Thursday to Saturday, 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., from August 15.

Hilbert: “Result is not pretty, but honest”

Only 1.8 percent of more than 4,000 Dresden residents surveyed by the Saxony Compass are “very satisfied” with Mayor Dirk Hilbert. A further 11.2 percent are somewhat satisfied. This means that the mayor of Dresden receives below-average approval compared to his counterparts in the other Saxon town halls. 31.5 percent of participants are rather dissatisfied, and 29.1 percent even stated that they were “not at all satisfied.” Hilbert does not see himself as to blame for this. “First of all, it is due to a survey that is not representative,” he says in an interview with Sächsische.de. “If people often write negatively about the mayor, then I shouldn’t be surprised if the mayor is rated poorly,” he says, explicitly citing the reporting by Sächsische.de. “I would like to be accompanied fairly. If campaigns report negatively about me, then one should not be surprised by the results of the survey. The result was as expected. It is not nice, but it is honest,” said Hilbert.

The newsletter “Politics in Saxony”

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