
The lack of school places in Berlin leads to waiting lists for school-age refugees. In all of Berlin it should now be a four-digit number. The Senate Department for Education was unable to provide more detailed information, citing the holidays that had just ended. However, a spokesman pointed out that 50 new welcome classes had just been opened. So there is movement.
The grievance became known through inquiries from district councilors from Pankow. For example, the Green Councilor Katharina Koufen received information from the city councilor for education Dominique Krössin (left) that in Pankow alone 330 refugee children did not have a place at school at the end of the holidays, including 193 children of primary school age.
At that time, 180 children from Ukraine, 50 from Moldova and 100 from 25 other nations were among the children without a school place, according to Krössin’s answer, which is available to the Tagesspiegel. These children would be “disadvantaged in their educational opportunities from the start,” criticizes Koufen.
There is also a waiting list of almost 300 children in Marzahn-Hellersdorf, said City Councilor for Education Torsten Kühne (CDU) on request. For Neukölln, education councilor Karin Korte (SPD) spoke of a waiting list “in the lower three-digit range. On the other hand, according to Education City Councilor Andy Hehmke (SPD), only around 20 were waiting for a place in Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg.
Education City Councilor Kühne pointed out that the districts do not only have to react to the influx from Ukraine. Rather, there are a number of admission programs at federal and state level – for example for refugees from Syria or Afghanistan – which means that more and more welcome classes have to be accommodated all the time. There were also no longer enough places in family or district centers. Office buildings would probably have to be rented next.