Crisis at Dippmannsdorf primary school: record registrations, lack of staff!

Crisis at Dippmannsdorf primary school: record registrations, lack of staff!

The school year planning for the Dippmannsdorf small elementary school is now in great danger. How maz online reports, those responsible at the school are facing major challenges: cuts in the Brandenburg education department are becoming noticeable and the director, Ingo Wagner, is faced with more students but fewer teaching staff. The situation is particularly dramatic because the planned formal introduction of all-day care will no longer be implemented from June 1, 2026.

Despite the worries that plague the school authorities, there are bright spots: 28 new students will start the 1st grade as ABC shooters - a record for the school. However, an application to confirm the all-day offer was not submitted by the city of Bad Belzig, which further increases the uncertainty. According to Wagner, there is a lack of financial resources to deepen communication and collaboration between teachers and educators. This is unfortunate, as the entire school community could benefit significantly from such cooperation.

Problems with care

In the current situation, working groups (AGs) and projects can only remain dreams due to the lack of money. This is made more difficult by the fact that the school dining room does not have enough capacity to provide meals for students from different classes together. Classes begin as usual at 7:30 a.m., but will be divided into shorter 45-minute sessions. First to fourth graders and fifth to sixth graders have to eat in two separate shifts, which makes integration and community within the school even more difficult.

The Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport of the State of Brandenburg emphasizes in another report that from August 1, 2026, all primary school children in Germany will be entitled to full-day support. The aim of this all-day support is to close a gap in care that exists, particularly for working parents, after the transition from daycare to primary school. In the hope of improving the situation, the federal requirement will be expanded to all grade levels in the coming years.

Expansion of all-day care

In Brandenburg there is already a legal right to all-day care, but this differs from the new federal right mainly in the minimum hours of care during the holidays. High-quality all-day offerings are intended to help improve equal opportunities and provide a variety of sporting, cultural and educational offerings. Over 50% of Brandenburg schools now offer such all-day programs. The implementation of all-day funding is scheduled to be completed by 2026, with the Investment Bank of the State of Brandenburg (ILB) providing funding of around 83.3 million euros to support the expansion of these offers.

The aim is also to increase the interlinking of lessons and extra-curricular educational offerings. The new funding guidelines come into force on February 1, 2024 and will enable schools to apply for investments in new buildings, expansions and the necessary equipment. Nevertheless, schools must prove that these measures actually serve to provide all-day care for students.

The challenges at the Dippmannsdorf primary school are a snapshot of the current situation in many educational institutions. Despite all efforts to provide high-quality education close to home, it remains to be seen how the large number of new students and limited resources can be reconciled. The path to advance in Brandenburg's educational landscape is still long and full of hurdles.