Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania: Thousands of Ukrainian schoolchildren: support "act of strength".

Rostock (dpa/mv) - In view of the thousands of additional students from Ukraine, the state government wants to protect the schools from being overloaded with more staff and an educational concept.

Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania: Thousands of Ukrainian schoolchildren: support "act of strength".

Rostock (dpa/mv) - In view of the thousands of additional students from Ukraine, the state government wants to protect the schools from being overloaded with more staff and an educational concept. "It's a tour de force for everyone involved," emphasized State Minister of Education Simone Oldenburg (left) when the concept was presented on Monday in Rostock's Krusenstern School. Around 3,000 Ukrainian students are already attending public schools in MV. There could be as many as 5,000 in the coming school year.

According to the information, 41 Ukrainian representatives have been hired so far. In addition, more than 100 positions have been advertised. Whether these positions can also be filled is another question, said Oldenburg, referring to the shortage of skilled workers. In addition to educators, more than 100 so-called everyday helpers are to support teachers in everyday activities, primarily in grades one to six.

According to the educational concept, from the coming school year the state will also rely on preliminary classes in so-called local schools. These are specific schools that are responsible for admitting the Ukrainian students in an area. In the preliminary classes, the students have 20 hours of lessons per week - at least 10 of which are in which they learn German as a foreign language. In addition, the schools decide whether they have the capacity to partially integrate the students into regular classes or whether they make other school offers.

Pupils should remain in the preparatory classes for one year, but not more than two years. According to the Ministry of Education, there are currently 95 local schools in the northeast with corresponding offers for learning German. If necessary, 140 more could be activated. Oldenburg said that Ukrainian children and young people who already go to other schools do not have to switch to local schools. The lessons are to be supplemented by digital offers. In addition, the students could also take advantage of the digital offers of the Ukrainian education system.

Oldenburg calculated that the 5,000 students from the Ukraine would result in the equivalent of 17 new schools with 340 teachers. "And that means 30 million a year that the country would have to spend." Everyone knows, however, that 340 additional teachers cannot be found. Despite the challenges, Oldenburg was convinced: "No child will be sent home and the quality of our teaching will not suffer either."