Two years before the general election, the Hamburg CDU decided on its direction in school and education policy. A leading proposal from the party executive entitled “Efficient, high-quality and inclusive education and training for Hamburg” was unanimously approved by the 140 delegates of a state committee on Tuesday evening. In the 20-page paper, the CDU advocates, among other things, the bundling of responsibilities from kindergarten to high school under one senator for day care centers and schools. In addition, more respect is demanded of the teachers, said the state chairman Christoph Ploß.
School policy is of central importance for the coming general election. The lead motion calls for a “fixed basic knowledge base” to be laid down in the primary school curricula. The transition to secondary schools must be flexible according to the learning level of the students. In addition, the CDU wants to campaign for increased efforts in recruiting teachers and digitization.
Every fifth child in Hamburg cannot write, read or calculate properly at the end of elementary school, said Birgit Stöver, the education expert for the parliamentary group. “Around 20 percent of the fifth graders start with a deficit that can hardly be made up.” In order to compensate for this, education in Hamburg must start earlier. “We want to strengthen day-care centers and elementary schools and think together.”
The training of teachers must be strengthened and the attractiveness of the teaching profession increased. “Teachers need relief for this,” said Stöver. In addition, the loss of lessons at Hamburg schools must “finally” be reduced.
Respect is also part of strengthening the teaching profession, said Ploß. In the past this was taken for granted. “Unfortunately, that’s different in many parts of the city today.” He also pointed out that many elementary school students did not meet the standard standards in reading, writing and arithmetic. There needs to be targeted support here. “The first years are the most important years in a person’s life. If you don’t keep up and don’t speak the language, you have big problems.”
Ploß and CDU parliamentary group leader Dennis Thering used their reports to the party conference to severely criticize the red-green Senate of Mayor Peter Tschentscher (SPD). The coalition partners are not pulling in the same direction when it comes to port, transport or energy policy, said Thering. “This Senate of SPD and Greens is hopelessly divided and where they are not divided, they are incompetent.”
The CDU, on the other hand, is clearly committed to the port, stands “without ifs and buts” in favor of the construction of the A26 East and also has a clear edge when it comes to internal security, he said. This will also pay off for some until the 2025 state elections, “when we want to take over government responsibility for our city again”.
