Student protests against job cancellations: act together now!
Student protests against job cancellations: act together now!
In a remarkable protest, pupils have mobilized against the planned deletion at their school. A school assistant, a school administrative assistant and an inclusion assistant are affected. The students are concerned about the potential end of the support that they regularly learn from these specialists. Like mdr , the protest methods contain images and posters. In addition, the activists collect signatures for a petition against the job cancellations and limits. Almost 10,000 signatures could be collected within two weeks.
The students' votes are loud. Aallyah, 10 years old, calls up: "Everyone should sign so that the assistants do not go." Simon, 13 years, adds: "It would be bad if you had to go. If we are not doing so well, you will have to open us and are there for us." In particular, the importance of support for reading promotion is emphasized. Astrid Leonarczyk, director of the Annaberg funding center, also commented on the situation and is concerned about the possible consequences.
educational policy protests in NRW
The protests in Annaberg are part of a larger wave of student protests organized by the “Landeschülerstorenver Report NRW”. Demonstrations were announced in a total of eleven cities to draw attention to grievances in education policy. The first demo started at 9 a.m. in Bergisch Gladbach with around 100 participants. In Bonn, around 130 students gathered with posters, while in Wuppertal 350 protesters moved through the Luisenviertel. Hundreds of participants were also present in Bielefeld, Düsseldorf and Mönchengladbach. The students are calling for a special fund of 10 billion euros for education to advance the technical equipment and renovation of the school buildings.
A central concern of the protesters is the demand for more teachers to halve the class sizes. In the speeches, digitization in schools is also criticized as inadequate. Adjustment of the school system to individual learning styles is required. NRW Minister of School Dorothee Feller welcomed the students' commitment, but emphasized that problems such as the lack of teachers cannot be solved immediately. The Education and Education Union (GEW) has also found an investment backlog of 10 billion euros.
The state of inclusion in Germany
The discussion about school policy and the current protests also take a look at the state of the inclusive school system in Germany. According to the Bertelsmann Foundation, Germany has slowly approached the goal of the UN Disabled Rights Convention. The exclusion rate dropped from 4.8 % in 2008/09 to 4.2 % in 2022/23. Despite progress in the expansion of inclusive schools, there are big differences in the exclusion rate between the 16 federal states, which ranges from 0.7 % to 6.4 %
It shows that there is no cross -border, coordinated approach to expand the inclusive school system. Progresses depend heavily on the efforts of the individual federal states. The current events and the protests illustrate the urgency for reforms in education policy and the need to improve the framework conditions for all students. Further information on the topic can be found on the website of DetailsOrt Annaberg, Deutschland Quellen