In the debate about the timetable at Bavaria’s primary schools, the Greens are in favor of simply letting children learn at school for longer – and thus not touching any subjects. After the poor PISA results, the state government is planning more German and mathematics and is allowing schools to make savings in creative subjects. The Greens are also calling for additional hours in the core subjects. But parliamentary group leader Katharina Schulze presented her own idea on Monday: no cuts – neither in art, music and works, nor in English – but instead there should simply be more lessons overall.
The state government is planning an additional hour of German per week in all four grades, and an additional math lesson in the first and third grades. According to the plans of Education Minister Anna Stolz (FW), this should be at the expense of art, music and works that are included in a pool of hours, possibly in English, depending on the flexible handling at the location. But not at the expense of religion. There was a skirmish between Stolz and Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU). An outraged call from prominent artists recently became public against the cuts in creative subjects.
Schulze sees “unworthy bargaining”; overall, more time is needed to learn: This means that children in the first and third grades would stay in school until 1 p.m. on some days. The expansion should take place “gradually” so that the necessary teachers are actually available. The Greens don’t want to compromise on religion either. However, Schulze imagines developing the third religion lesson in the higher grades into “a kind of dialogue lesson”. You can talk to the students about values such as tolerance, which is necessary in a heated society, and strengthen schools as a “place for personal development”.
Schulze renewed her criticism of the late decision on the Bavarian budget and criticized the delay in submitting it – the budget is not expected to pass the state parliament until June this year. Social institutions or many projects and support related to schools, the financing of which is not a statutory obligation, would therefore have to “wait”. It is to be feared that “in times of a shortage of skilled workers, good people will not take part in this hanging game.” The Ministry of Finance recently contradicted the Greens’ criticism, saying there was “by no means a standstill in administrative activity”.