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The city gets money for tablets and IT support. The WiFi should be set up in all schools by 2022.
Paul Gerhard Weiß (FDP) says with pride in his voice: “We were the first city to receive approval notices.” With this, the Offenbach school department head means the financial means from the digital pact of the federal and state governments to promote digitization in schools . But although the city started tenders, awards and work as quickly as possible, “the digital pact for the pandemic came too late”.
A functioning WLAN in all facilities would have been helpful, especially for alternating lessons. Although all schools in Offenbach have been connected to the fiber optic network for a year, the installation of the WLAN will, according to Weiss’ estimates, take until the end of 2022. “This is very complex construction work,” says the city council, pointing out that schools in many other Hessian cities are also being digitally upgraded. In the Leibniz School alone, 40 kilometers of cables had to be laid through partly thick walls of old buildings and new power lines had to be laid.
The digital equipment is progressing more quickly. Initially, 3,000 tablets were given out to schoolchildren who did not have a device at home or could not afford it. The individual schools determined the need. The city has also equipped the mobile devices with a protective cover and armor foil on the display. In order to equip the teaching staff, Offenbach received 934 387 euros, for which rental equipment was immediately ordered in coordination with the education authority. Even if it is not a responsibility of the municipalities, the municipal umbrella organizations had signaled to the state to take over the acquisition so that it could move forward.
The city can also plan with another million euros from the digital pact to organize increased IT support in schools. “In order to be able to provide this support for all new acquisitions at all schools in the future, we need 16 new employees,” explained Weiß. The money is still far from being enough. Permanent funding must be ensured, “because the provision of learning materials, whether analog or digital, is also a state responsibility. That must not get stuck with the school authorities, ”emphasized the head of the school department. Until the city can hire new employees for this, the city education authority will try to buy the services.
In total, the city of Offenbach has around 13 million euros available for all construction work, purchases and services.
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