Vienna Schools Reaching Capacity Limits: Plans for Mobile Classes and Modular School Rooms

The schools in Vienna – at least in some parts of the city – have apparently reached their capacity limits. That is why the establishment of mobile classes is now being planned. As the office of City Councilor for Education Christoph Wiederkehr (NEOS) informed the APA, containers could be set up at seven locations. The main reason for the measure is the recent family reunifications in the asylum sector.

According to Wiederkehr, the city has created around 1,200 new classes for compulsory public schools in the past ten years. There will be 103 new rooms in the coming school year. But the trend continues: Recently, crisis and war events or an increase in demand in the area of ​​special education have led to an increase in students, it was said.

Due to these “multiple challenges”, the space available in the city’s schools is currently no longer able to accommodate additional increased demand situations. However, the high increases from the area of ​​family reunification would represent such a situation.

According to the education department, in agreement with the Education Directorate, it was agreed that temporary modular school classes, each with up to twelve educational rooms, will probably be set up at seven locations in Vienna. The districts affected are Wieden, Favoriten, Simmering, Leopoldstadt, Floridsdorf, Donaustadt and Liesing.

The mobile systems are scheduled to be completed and put into operation at the beginning of the 2024/2025 school year. The costs for the construction are estimated at around 14 million euros.

“Vienna’s educational infrastructure is planned with foresight and enables modern pedagogical work. Given the currently extremely high influx through family reunification, we are doing everything we can to create the additional educational space needed,” said Wiederkehr. In any case, in the short term you will have to resort to modular school classes.

According to Wiederkehr, these meet all the requirements for school rooms and are intended as a temporary solution until new, permanent educational rooms are completed. Andrea Trattnig, head of the municipal department 56 (schools), explained that they want to offer school children a school place that is as close to home as possible. The modular classes would enable supply in the regions.

Once again, Wiederkehr also criticized the APA for what he saw as the “massive imbalance” in the distribution of refugees among the federal states: “Nationwide solutions are needed here so that the infrastructure in the federal capital remains viable.”

Wiederkehr had already called for a residency requirement for recognized refugees. The Viennese NEOS politician demands that non-working people whose asylum procedure has been completed should have to live for three more years in the federal state in which the procedure was carried out.

2024-02-21 07:44:00
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