Despite high energy costs, Education Minister Oldenburg sees no reason to worry in schools and day-care centers that it might not get warm enough there in winter. However, the free schools have already asked for support.
Schwerin (dpa / mv) - Before winter there are concerns as to whether schools, daycare centers and after-school care centers in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania can be heated sufficiently. Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania's Education Minister Simone Oldenburg (left) countered corresponding fears on Thursday. The working group of free schools in MV, however, turned to the state for help with a request for higher material cost subsidies because of the sharp rise in energy costs - without success, as the opposition groups of the CDU and Greens unanimously reported after a meeting of the education committee of the state parliament on Thursday.
"Schools, day-care centers and after-school care centers are preferred rooms and are therefore protected in the event of an energy shortage," Oldenburg explained in Schwerin on Thursday. "They fall under the energy price cap." The state government has been working with the federal government for months to ensure that the lid takes effect as early as possible in order to take away worries and fears. "Funding, support and teaching will be treated and protected with particular sensitivity - especially after the years of restrictions caused by the pandemic," promised Oldenburg.
So far, it is planned that the announced gas price cap will take effect from March 2023. The federal states are demanding that the brakes be started as early as January. On November 2nd, the prime ministers of the federal states want to discuss this question with Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD).
The country is not planning any relief packages for schools and daycare centers - regardless of the sponsorship, criticized the education policy spokesman for the Union, Torsten Renz. In the case of state schools, the local authorities are responsible and the taxpayers are therefore responsible. This is not the case with freelancers. Their schools are mainly financed by state subsidies and parental contributions. Around twelve percent of all pupils in MV attend an independent school. The state government has a duty to act, said Renz.
With the votes of red-red, the education committee rejected a hearing of the free schools in the education committee suggested by the CDU. According to Renz, this gives the impression that the government camp does not take the concerns and fears of those affected seriously. The Greens were also outraged. The education policy spokeswoman for the Greens in the state parliament, Jutta Wegner, accused Red-Red of practicing power-political maneuvers at the expense of sensible decisions. The victims are the free schools across the country, which could not present their position at the crucial points. They would be left alone with their worries.
The AfD parliamentary group pointed out that day-care centers in MV are largely run by independent organizations. It is questionable whether a tolerable room temperature can be guaranteed if the heating costs for the carrier can no longer be met, said the education policy spokesman for the AfD parliamentary group, Enrico Schult.
The parliamentary group leader of the co-governing left, Jeannine Rösler, assured that everything would be done to ensure daycare and face-to-face teaching in schools. This includes that the municipalities would be supported with the increased energy prices.
