Protest against cuts in school support in Hamburg continues

The protest against changes to school support for inclusion children continues. More than 88,000 people have now signed the online petition “No cuts to school support in Hamburg” on Change.org. According to the GEW union, the petition will be handed over to School Senator Ksenija Bekeris (SPD) this Tuesday. After the appointment before the school authorities, a technical exchange with Bekeris and representatives of the petition is planned for the late afternoon.

The trigger for the dispute is the reorganization of school support decided by the school authorities - partly for cost reasons. Accordingly, fewer educational specialists and more participants in the Voluntary Social Year (FSJ) should be deployed, pool solutions should partially replace individual case assistance and the criteria for approval should be applied more strictly.

School support supports children and young people with physical, mental, emotional or social impairments in taking part in normal everyday school life. Depending on individual needs, it helps, for example, with orientation in the school building, organizing work assignments, communicating with teachers and classmates or dealing with difficult situations in class.

Bekeris had repeatedly stated that school accompaniment was a legal service. And if there is a verified need, then the child is entitled to it. Nevertheless, during the summer holidays there was considerable dissatisfaction with the number of hours actually approved. The school authorities received questions and complaints in a total of 540 cases. Recently, special schools had also sounded the alarm, declaring that they could no longer control compulsory schooling under the current conditions.