Socialist Party Leader Unveils Plan for Gratis Subscriptions to Tutoring Services
Berlin - Ahead of the second COVID-19 school summit with Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) and the federal states, SPD leader Saskia Esken has proposed utilizing the existing Education and Participation Package to provide socially disadvantaged students with free tutoring services. This proposal entails granting students access to a "quality-checked tutoring platform" subsidized by the government, as Esken informed the Funke media group's Monday editions.
Esken emphasized the necessity for politics to minimize educational disparities for socially weaker families and their children during the pandemic. The consultations at the Chancellery on Monday will include Esken alongside ministers of education from the federal states and Federal Minister of Education Anja Karliczek (CDU).
In an initial informal meeting held mid-August, the federal and state governments agreed on provisions for all teachers to receive service laptops as soon as possible and for students to access affordable internet connections. The federal government allocated an additional 500 million euros for these purposes. Esken highlighted the importance of preventing students from falling behind due to the lost teaching time during the pandemic.
Highlighting the importance of educational justice in COVID-19 times, Esken explained that students from risk groups in quarantine or temporarily closed learning groups should have uninterrupted access to education through high-quality digital or hybrid teaching. Collaboration between the federal and state governments is essential, as schools must not be left alone during the long-awaited digitalization.
The Education and Participation Package in Germany is a government initiative aimed at supporting socially disadvantaged children and adolescents by providing access to free or subsidized educational and participatory opportunities, including tutoring. Through this package, families receiving social benefits can apply for financial support for tutoring lessons, school trips, learning materials, and cultural activities. Local authorities manage applications and approve tutoring support under this package.
This setup ensures that socially disadvantaged students in Germany can access necessary educational support without financial barriers to extra help. Public education itself is free in Germany; however, the Education and Participation Package addresses extra tutoring costs for those in need.
- Saskia Esken, while discussing the Education and Participation Package, suggested using it to offer free tutoring services for socially disadvantaged students in light of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, thereby addressing the political concern of minimizing educational disparities.
- Concurrent with the general news about the second COVID-19 school summit, Esken stressed the need for collaboration between politics and education sectors to ensure access to quality education for all students, especially those at risk, through digital or hybrid learning methods, hoping to prevent a widening of the educational gap during these challenging times.
