The situation at the secondary schools in the north of Erfurt is almost the same: the number of students has been increasing for years, there has been a lack of classrooms, specialist rooms and lounges in the school buildings, increasing numbers of students with a migration background, and too few staff. So far, each school has fought for itself. The headmasters described their problems to the city and the school authorities, often they didn’t even get an answer. But that should be the end of it now. Now they want to achieve that the city finally acts and takes the challenges in the north of Erfurt seriously.
Common appearance towards the city
That is why headmasters, parents’ representatives, student representatives, school social workers and members of the state and district parents’ representatives of the affected schools met on Thursday evening for an initial discussion in order to appear together with the city and to develop a strategy to finally get those responsible to act.
We want to fight for our student body. A migration share of 30 to 35 percent is easy to manage in order to live integration. We’re not saying we don’t want them. These are great students.
In particular, the high proportion of immigrants makes things difficult for the schools. Integration is not possible like this, says Cornelia Münch, headmistress of the Otto Lilienthal State Community School: “We want to fight for our student body. 30 to 35 percent of immigrants are easy to manage in order to live integration. We’re not saying we don’t want it. That are great students.”
But everyone would like better distribution in the Erfurt city area, then integration would also be possible and successful. Headmaster Sven Stötzer from the Albert-Schweitzer-Gymnasium gives exact figures. In the higher classes, the proportion of immigrants is still manageable. In grade eleven, he is at 18.4 percent in his school. In grade five, around 50 percent of the children already have a migration background.
Almost a quarter of the students are entitled to education and participation
Often the students cannot follow the lessons due to a lack of language skills. In addition, 23.1 percent of the students are entitled to education and participation, i.e. they belong to socially disadvantaged families. This is also due to the district, which offers affordable living space in prefabricated buildings.
Bullying and violence are increasing
In addition, there are more and more students in the schools because the construction of new school buildings has been neglected for years. The students who are now moving from primary schools to secondary schools are simply distributed. The Albert-Schweitzer-Gymnasium has to take in five fifth graders next year.
It’s a powder keg.
The Heinrich-Hertz-Gymnasium will also have five classes in the fifth grade next school year. The rooms and corridors are becoming increasingly cramped, confirms Lisa Grönmeyer, student representative of the Heinrich Hertz High School: “We are also noticing that the student body is growing. There are more and more smaller children. The number of students with a migration background is increasing higher and higher. Even in high school it’s around 40 percent. The potential for disputes is increasing. It’s a powder keg.”
School should be a place where you feel comfortable, but it’s not like that.
“School should be a place where you feel comfortable, but it’s not. It’s like being at a sale, especially after breaks when all the students rush into the building at the same time. We’ve also had an increase in falls from the stairs, because it’s often too narrow,” adds her colleague Leonie Bellot.
More bullying and violence in classes with large numbers of students
Michelle Zimmermann, member of the state and district parents’ representation and adviser on the subject of bullying and violence, warns of the dangers: “Bullying and violence increase in classes with many students cause fire.”
According to school social worker Irene Wolfert, school in the north of Erfurt is no longer a living space, but a storage station. Irene Wolfert alone is responsible for around 1,000 students at the Albert-Schweitzer-Gymnasium. Since the Corona lockdowns, her consulting hours have been fully booked. There would be more and more students with mental health problems and school dropouts.
Since Corona, many students no longer felt connected to their school. “Some students have anxiety, also because of the cramped rooms and corridors. School should be a place where they like to go and where they can also meet their friends.”
She can no longer provide the care on her own and has tried to draw the politicians’ attention to this. But her request seems to have gotten lost somewhere.
First successes of the alliance
An open letter that the headmaster Sven Stötzer of the Albert-Schweitzer-Gymnasium wrote to Mayor Andreas Bausewein a good three weeks ago got the alliance off the ground. Sven Stötzer has not received an answer to this day.
But the student representatives Tobias Riemer and Jurek Faulwasser submitted a motion at the last student parliament to put the topic on the agenda. The application was accepted. Now the topic is set in the medium and long term, it is now finding its way into the committees and the city council factions are also behind the demands, according to Tobias Riemer.