Hamburg (dpa/lno) – Baby boomers, immigration, the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine and overall high numbers of refugees have once again led to a record number of students at Hamburg’s educational institutions. In total, around 265,500 children and young people are attending one of the Hanseatic city’s approximately 470 state and private schools this school year – more than ever before, as the school authorities announced on Tuesday. 217,580 students are currently taught at the 412 general primary, district and special schools as well as high schools. In addition, 47,970 young people attended a vocational school.
“6,386 additional students within just one school year, which corresponds to the number of students in around 350 additional school classes or, for example, 20 additional primary schools,” explained School Senator Ksenija Bekeris (SPD) with a view to general education schools. There has probably never been such a rapid and massive increase as in the past two years – in the 2022/23 school year there were even 7,490 additional students – historically, not even after the refugee crisis in 2015.
The increase is usually between 2,000 and 3,000 students, said Bekeris. Primary schools recorded a particular increase. Ten years ago there were 15,761 first graders, now there are 19,521 – around 24 percent more. However, the class sizes remained largely unaffected by this increase, remaining on average at 20.9 children per class at primary schools. Classes at district schools grew from 23.7 to 23.9 children and young people, and at high schools from 25.7 to 26.3 students.
According to the authorities, the number of teaching staff has also increased along with the number of students – from 17,079 full-time positions ten years ago to 20,369 in the current school year. “If you take the part-time quota into account, there are almost 28,000 people behind it,” said Bekeris. The numbers refer to both teachers and social workers.
“Despite the large increase (…), we managed to keep the student-teacher ratio (…) very constant,” said Bekeris. As in the previous year, there would be 12.2 primary school students, 10.6 district school students and 3.4 special school students for every teacher. At high schools, the ratio even fell by 0.1 to 14.6 students per teacher. However, the students would have to move closer together. “We are currently managing to accommodate the students,” said State Councilor Rainer Schulz. No school is bursting at the seams, but there is only 13.2 square meters of space per child, compared to 14.2 square meters last year. But that is still significantly more than the required minimum space of twelve square meters, emphasized Schulz.
Of the school leavers from the last school year, 53.6 percent have the Abitur, 19.8 percent the middle school diploma and 16.5 percent the first school diploma. 1,061 or 6.3 percent of graduates left school without a qualification. However, Bekeris pointed out that around 500 of them had great special educational needs and were so differently impaired that they did not aim for a school leaving certificate. Looking at the other 560 or so, State Councilor Schulz emphasized that school was not over just because they had left general education schools. As a rule, they then switch to the vocational school system, which also leads to school qualifications.
The proportion of students with a migrant background from preschool to the tenth grade is 53.9 percent – 0.9 points more than in the 2022/23 school year, said Bekeris. At the same time, the proportion of children and young people in general education schools whose families do not speak German rose by 1.1 percentage points to 33.8 percent.
The left-wing parliamentary group leader Sabine Boeddinghaus sees an enormous need for action despite the increased number of teachers: “Pedagogical quality is and remains crucial.” There is still hardly any inclusion in high schools, and poor students still tend to attend district schools rather than high schools. The FDP MP Anna von Treuenfels-Frowein called for real documentation of the cancellation of lessons and also for the four-and-a-half-year examination to be brought forward by one to two years. The AfD, in turn, called for a “migration policy with moderation and understanding” as well as a “return to the school performance principle”.
© dpa-infocom, dpa:240213-99-972437/3
2024-02-13 18:13:35
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