Düsseldorf (dpa / lnw) - The shortage of teachers in North Rhine-Westphalia is currently occupying the state parliament. According to the latest statistics, around 8,000 teaching positions are vacant at schools in NRW. In a current hour at the request of the opposition SPD, the MPs want to discuss how the gaps can be closed. There is still a shortage of most teachers in primary schools. More than 3,430 teaching positions are vacant there.
According to the SPD, lateral entry must be made easier and more attractive across all types of schools. The study places for teaching, special education and social education would have to be massively expanded. The universities of applied sciences should also be more involved in teacher training - especially in the mathematical and scientific field (MINT).
NRW School Minister Dorothee Feller (CDU) wants to present a package of measures to improve the provision of lessons next Wednesday (December 14) in the school committee. The draft budget of the black-green state government for 2023 provides for more than 5,000 additional jobs in schools. According to Feller, more than 3,300 positions are planned for the schooling of refugee children and young people from Ukraine and other countries.
According to Feller, almost 8,000 teachers and other educational staff were hired last year. The fact that many teachers are still missing is also due to the nationwide tense situation on the teacher labor market.
The CDU, Greens and the opposition FDP also want to expand state aid for victims of the Bottrop pharmacist scandal to a larger group of beneficiaries and extend the application period by three months to the end of March 2023. A joint motion from the three parliamentary groups has been submitted to the plenum for this purpose. So far, the state parliament has provided ten million euros for state aid.
The SPD has submitted its own application and calls for the compensation fund to be increased to twelve million euros. In this case, a pharmacist had underdosed expensive active ingredients for cancer drugs for years, thereby making illegal profits in the millions.
