Dispute over political education: Berlin's new staff office failed!

Dispute over political education: Berlin's new staff office failed!

A new staff office should have been set up in Berlin to control and coordinate educational projects, but now the education administration is pulling the ripcord. The “Political Education and Democracy Promotion” department will not be implemented in the current legislative period for the time being, as can be seen from an answer to a parliamentary question from the Left. This also reports daily news.

The planned closure of staff positions led to a dispute within the black-red coalition. While the CDU-led education administration generally favored regulated implementation, the SPD feared undue influence on the allocation of funding for political education projects. Education Senator Katharina Günther-Wünsch (CDU) made it clear that direct influence was not planned, but skepticism remained.

Protests and cuts in education

However, the issues of political education and democracy promotion are currently not just an internal Berlin political business - they also affect daily life in schools. Cuts in education policy are on the agenda; the Senate Department for Education announced savings of 39 million euros. This will primarily affect the political, cultural and queer educational offerings. The taz reports that over 5,000 people took to the streets to demonstrate against these cuts.

The savings are already noticeable in circles at the Otto Wels elementary school in Kreuzberg. This means that 80,000 euros less are made available for school social work, which means that almost three out of four positions are eliminated. The school's disposal fund has also been drastically reduced, from 17,000 to just 5,000 euros, which calls into question essential tasks such as interpreting services. Falk Seidel, an educator at this school, explains how important school social workers are for child protection, dispute resolution and democracy education.

Diverse educational offerings in Berlin

But despite these challenges, there is still a wealth of providers in Berlin that promote political education. Organizations like that Anne Frank Center and the Youth Red Cross, as well as numerous other initiatives, are committed to issues such as anti-discrimination, democracy and media, democracy development in schools and gender equality. These topics are essential to promote a responsible society and to sensitize children and young people to the challenges of a pluralistic world.

While the political disputes over the Office for Civic Education continue to simmer, the question remains as to how existing educational offerings can be secured in the long term through the recent austerity program. The education administration is trying to signal that despite the savings, key educational offerings should be retained, but the reality in many schools tells a different story. The affected actors are therefore planning to carry out further information and protest actions, because there is something important - the future generation must not be left behind.