They come in their thousands fleeing the Russian invasion. Children and young people in Germany should be given educational opportunities as quickly as possible. Berlin is hoping for support from the Bundeswehr.
Children and young people who come to Germany fleeing Russian wartime violence should be integrated into schools as quickly as possible.
The Ministers of Education of the federal states and Federal Education Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger (FDP) agreed at the Conference of Ministers of Education (KMK) in Lübeck on Thursday to act together. “We are required to give the people who come to us help quickly,” said Stark-Watzinger. It is an important signal to set up a task force in this situation and to work together pragmatically.
Stark-Watzinger and the President of the KMK, the Schleswig-Holstein Minister of Education Karin Prien (CDU) announced that they would involve Ukrainian teachers who had fled to Germany. A strong signal of cooperation between the federal and state governments was sent. “I think that’s only appropriate for the situation.” Prien said that they wanted to use digitized Ukrainian textbooks. “We will work together to secure the rights to these textbooks so that we can use them.”
States are preparing
According to Priens, the federal states are preparing for a large number of refugee children and young people from Ukraine. “There will certainly be many hundreds of thousands of children coming to us,” she said in the ZDF “Morgenmagazin”. With regard to scientists who have fled, Prien announced that the federal and state governments, but also the alliance of major scientific organizations, will jointly set up a contact point to give those seeking information and help access to all programs and assistance.
Another topic of the joint consultations between the federal and state governments was the connection between social background and educational success. Dissolving this connection is a central concern of educational policy. “We have to get better at that and we want to tackle that together,” said Prien. Stark-Watzinger called it unacceptable that a fifth of the students leave school without being able to read properly. “These are basic skills that mark a whole life path.”
Federal government also cooperates with Airbnb.org
The federal government is now also working with the non-profit organization of the US accommodation broker Airbnb to accommodate the refugees. This was announced by the Federal Ministry of the Interior on Thursday in Berlin. The cooperation for the private accommodation of refugees has been agreed with Airbnb.org and #Unterkunft-Ukraine, an alliance of several organizations and social enterprises.
“We are experiencing a wave of solidarity. Civil society has already mobilized 300,000 free, private offers throughout Germany. Now it is important to organize the mediation in a structured way with a constantly growing number of arrivals, »said State Secretary Markus Richter. People who would like to offer refugees accommodation can register via www.wohnung-ukraine.de or airbnb.org.
Airbnb.org already has experience placing refugees, including those from Syria and Afghanistan. According to its own statements, #Accommodation-Ukraine was founded on the first day of the conflict and has already «activated» 280,000 free private accommodations.
Berlin asks the federal government for help
The Berlin state government sees itself overwhelmed by the high number of war refugees arriving from the Ukraine and hopes for help from the federal government as well as support from the armed forces. The capital will not be able to cope with the influx of people alone, said Governing Mayor Franziska Giffey (SPD). “That means the support of the federal government is elementary for the coming days.” Interior Senator Iris Spranger (SPD) announced that she would request administrative assistance from the Federal Ministry of Defense on the same day and request support from the Bundeswehr.
“I do believe that Berlin, as the city that is very affected by this situation, more than any other federal state, can also have the right to request federal support,” said Giffey. So far, more than 8,000 war refugees have been accommodated. “We’re at a point where we need 1,000 beds in the city every night.” Interior Senator Spranger said at the plenary session that Berlin is in an emergency and is therefore considering help from the Bundeswehr: “We have about 40 helpers that we may need.”
Source: Stern
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