DigitalPakt School in Zwickau: 4.68 million for the digital future!

DigitalPakt School in Zwickau: 4.68 million for the digital future!

It's done! On June 18, 2025, the “DigitalPakt School” project was officially completed in Zwickau. After almost five years of intensive work, those responsible can look proudly at the results of their commitment, because quite a bit has been invested: a total of 4.68 million euros went into the digital upgrade of 18 schools in the city. Of this, 3.12 million euros come from the “DigitalPakt School”, an initiative that supports the development and expansion of digital educational infrastructures.

The starting signal for the DigitalPakt was given in June 2020 at the Nicolaischule. But the time between the groundbreaking and today was anything but easy. At the press conference in the Scheffelbergschule, Mayor Sebastian Lasch praised the excellent cooperation between the Office for Family, School and Social Affairs and the data processing department. Without the support of teachers, principals and staff, this milestone would not have been possible.

Technical upgrade and infrastructure

What exactly was implemented? The impressive list includes the installation of 242 interactive boards, over 25 kilometers of network cables and around 3,000 devices, including iPads and laptops. In addition, 13 of the 18 schools were connected to fiber optics by the end of the year. Particularly noteworthy are the central school servers, which are managed by Zwickauer Energiebedarf GmbH (ZEV). All of this contributes to the creation of a powerful digital infrastructure prepared for both classroom and digital distance learning.

But the investment doesn’t end there. In order to ensure digital education in the long term, between 700,000 and 800,000 euros are planned annually for the maintenance and replacement of devices. A dedicated team of four employees also takes over the maintenance and support of the newly implemented school IT.

The big picture

The DigitalPakt School is more than just a financial injection - it is considered a key initiative to redesign digital education in Germany. The federal government has now also launched Digital Pact 2.0, which aims to create new devices and better learning opportunities. A total of 6.5 billion euros are available to make the school landscape digitally fit. But it's not just the infrastructure that is important. According to the DigitalPakt Schule, the quality of digital education is heavily dependent on the pedagogical concepts and the further training of teachers.

Implementing these concepts lays the foundation for students to be able to use modern tools that meet their learning needs. The federal states are required to ensure a balanced distribution of funds and to train teachers accordingly so that these innovations can actually be incorporated into lessons.

The successful integration of these digital solutions is more important than ever today, especially after the challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic. The urgency of promoting digital teaching and learning formats has increased significantly in recent years. In this regard, Zwickau is a shining example for other cities that have managed to take significant steps in the right direction.

It remains to be hoped that these developments will be imitated not only in Zwickau but also in other regions of Germany in the future and that digital education will be promoted across the board. After all, the future of education is in our hands.