Stark-Watzinger has invited to the summit on Tuesday and Wednesday, where the current challenges of education policy in Germany are to be discussed. However, the format is burdened by a number of cancellations, especially from federal states led by the Union.
Stark-Watzinger demanded that the federal, state and local governments “finally have to pull together”. “In view of the dramatic findings, there must be no further-so,” she said. The federal government cannot “simply keep giving money” as before. The structural problems must finally be addressed. “This will only work with a new form and culture of cooperation with everyone involved. We have to set up a team education instead of pointing fingers at others.”
The minister called for more speed, especially when it comes to digitization in schools. At the same time, Stark-Watzinger criticized the fact that school buildings were dilapidated in many places and spoke of a “poor condition” in some cases: “There are deficits not only in digitization, but also in relation to sanitary facilities and gymnasiums. The investment backlog must be tackled in parallel with digitization. “
Hesse’s Minister of Culture Lorz told the Table.Media portal about numerous cancellations from Union countries: “Neither the date nor the format and content were agreed with us”. He therefore accused the Federal Ministry of Education of being unprofessional. “The minister should have gotten all the players around the table as early as the planning stage, then the content could have been pegged in.” The issues could have been discussed in advance in a working group – the ministry is putting the bridle on the horse from the tail up.
There is also criticism of the actions of the FDP minister in the traffic light coalition. Green education expert Nina Stahr told Table.Media that the Greens would have liked the summit to be larger and more top-class – such as the education summit held in Dresden in 2008 by then Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) with all prime ministers.
Stahr called for three major areas to be tackled: combating the shortage of teachers, improving the performance and basic skills of the students and a plan to reduce the rate of school dropouts.
Stahr emphasized that the summit could only be a prelude. She referred to the working group agreed in the coalition agreement, which should structure further cooperation between the federal, state and local governments and ensure that common goals are achieved. The Greens politician demanded that the rules of the Basic Law on education policy should also be discussed in order to make education a general task for the community.
Education experts also warned in the “Bild am Sonntag” that the Abitur grades would be devalued in view of the constantly improving grades and at the same time declining performances of German students in an international comparison. “The Abitur is worth less and less the better the average gets. Politicians have to get involved immediately,” demanded Nicolas Colsman, co-founder of the non-profit organization “Future Digital Education” in the newspaper.
