President of the Bundestag Calls for Joint Efforts to Ensure Educational Justice

Berlin (dpa) – President of the Bundestag Bärbel Bas has called on the federal, state and local governments to join forces to ensure more educational justice. An “overall effort on all three levels” is necessary, said the SPD politician in an interview with the German Press Agency in Berlin. She spoke out in favor of supporting focal areas in particular with more money and staff and making the teaching profession there more attractive through better pay.

Educational careers are still possible today, but “still created by chance,” said Bas. “You need a lot of luck and someone who recognizes the talent and opens up educational opportunities.” Statistics and studies show that young people are more likely to study if they come from academic households. «Our promise that workers’ children can go to university is a reality. Also thanks to funding opportunities such as student loans, etc. Nevertheless, it is more difficult for children from families with low incomes.» There were often no role models for educational advancement.

“More resources and staff in a targeted manner”

“The educational map clearly shows where the problems are particularly pronounced,” said Bas. “We have to pay more attention to these regions, and we should use more resources and staff in a very targeted manner.” With a view to the problems of the cities and communities affected in finding teachers, she also brought financial incentives into play: “Anyone who works in a troubled school, for example, could earn more with allowances.”

Due to federalism, there are three actors in the education sector. The federal government, which can initiate many programs, the federal states, which are primarily responsible for education policy, and the municipalities, which, for example, have to ensure that the school buildings are equipped. “I am firmly convinced that we need an overall effort on all three levels so that education can be fairer and more successful,” said the President of the Bundestag. The national action plan “New Opportunities for Children in Germany” just approved by the cabinet is a framework in which local authorities, states and the federal government could actually come together better.

«IT experts to school»

In order to relieve teachers, specialists should be hired, for example for digitization. Today, the teachers would have to “get their way into the technology somehow,” said Bas. «Why don’t we try to get IT experts into schools? Then the teachers could concentrate on what and how the children should learn.”

The social democrat also believes that a change in the image of vocational training is necessary. «Vocational training in the dual system has an inferior image today. That’s why many young people unfortunately believe that they absolutely have to study.” However, training and studies should be treated equally.

The secondary school also needs an image change. The students there felt like “the rest of the school,” said Bas. “They think: We don’t have a chance anyway, we’ve already lost, we’ve fallen by the wayside.” If young people already went to school with such feelings, the number of dropouts should not come as a surprise. The fact that 45,000 to 50,000 of them left school without a degree is “a sign of failure for our education system”.