“We are aware that the pandemic-related restrictions place a burden on families with children in particular and present them with great challenges. But immigrants, migrants and people who find it difficult to participate in digital formats due to personal circumstances are also particularly affected,” said Lord Mayor Belit Onay celebrates. “Despite adverse conditions, we have been maintaining the entire infrastructure of formal and non-formal education as well as open child and youth work in the city for a year now and are continuously adapting it to the changing framework conditions. In the coming weeks and months we will be launching more offers such as qualified homework and learning support for students and a significantly expanded summer school and want to support children in dealing with learning deficits, “continues Onay.
Child and youth work
The municipal work for children and young people is an important point of contact for offers, advice and support for families. All offers and services are implemented there under the currently valid Corona regulations. Facilities such as youth centers, counseling facilities and day-care centers are open, as far as the Corona regulations allow, and are ready to expand the offers immediately as soon as easing allows this. Digital offers are being developed, so family counseling is possible online and by video.
The services of the municipal social service in the context of child protection are provided without restrictions. All possibilities are exhausted for holiday offers, including offers close to home. The Fluxx emergency support is available if there is a need for support at short notice. The source of information for family-related offers is the family blog with regular updated articles and soon also a children’s blog and a parents’ academy. For families with small children there are contactless offers in parenting clubs, whether online or with handicraft and play materials in the “shoebox” to pick up.
“All independent organizations, clubs and associations continued to receive their funding in 2020 and 2021 so that the infrastructure of child and youth welfare can be fully preserved. This shows the state capital’s clear commitment to independent organizations,” emphasizes Onay.
All about schools – expansion of the summer school 2021 and qualified learning support
To support distance learning, all schools were equipped for digital communication in April 2020; in autumn 2020, 7,600 iPads were delivered to 99 general education schools for pupils in need. Children who are eligible for benefits under the Education and Participation Act receive a free lunch.
Programs such as summer and autumn schools were explicitly geared towards compensating for learning deficits. The summer school 2021 will be significantly expanded and offered to all schools of the school types Oberschule, Realschule, Integrated Comprehensive School and Primary School. The program of qualified learning support will be embedded in the summer school and the program of homework assistance will be professionalized.
The established “rucksack” program offers support such as translation and assistance with the Corona self-tests, translations of letters from parents in simple language, digital learning materials and explanatory videos.
For questions about the transition to the secondary school, there will be a second information event on April 21 by telephone hotline.
“We use every opportunity and develop new formats to ensure participation in education and to compensate for learning deficits,” says Rita Maria Rzyski, head of education, youth and families, summarizing the wide range of offers.
VHS – Second educational path, educational counseling, offers for individual target groups
“The Ada-und-Theodor-Lessing-Volkshochschule Hannover was one of the first adult education centers in Germany to convert a substantial part of the courses to digital formats, which are now accepted far beyond the city limits,” Rzyski continued.
Specifically, there are eight face-to-face courses in the second educational path with around 60 participants working towards the exam. Courses that do not end with an exam run online. Participants from integration courses are currently learning further via three online tutorials. In some districts with particular challenges, the “German in the District” courses will be continued online.
Educational counseling continues to take place by e-mail, telephone or video conference and gives immigrants and immigrants in particular orientation in the education and work system.
There are special offers for target groups who would be disadvantaged due to the Corona-related switch to digital formats. In the summer of 2020, there was a full face-to-face offer in literacy / basic education. There have been three online literacy courses since the lockdown. There is currently one online course for people with disabilities and nine courses specifically for older people.
The VHS currently offers a total of 363 online courses in all program areas and thus covers the entire range of topics.
“The extensive offer that the state capital Hanover maintains in the field of education shows that the municipality has exhausted almost all possibilities in order to support participation in education as best as possible within the narrow framework set by the state regulations and general hygiene plans,” emphasizes Rzyski.
“In all future considerations, the concerns of children who are particularly stressed from the start must be placed more in focus. Families and children need solidarity and support. The wish to include parents in prioritizing vaccinations is understandable and I support it”, so onay.
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