Digital turn for schools: Union of the federal and state governments is imminent!

Digital turn for schools: Union of the federal and state governments is imminent!

Reutlingen, Deutschland - The standstill in digitization of German schools has come to an end: the federal and state governments have agreed on a new “digital pact 2.0”. Cem Özdemir, the Federal Minister of Education and Science, announced the breakthrough report at the Green Party Conference in Reutlingen. The agreement is reached at a time when the IT infrastructure in schools is heavily outdated and urgently needs to be modernized. As the state indicator reported , the agreement should be officially decided so that the funds can flow from January 1st.

A total of around five billion euros are planned for digital education in the next six years, the costs between the federal and state governments are shared. Of these funds, two, 5 billion euros come from the federal government and just as much from the countries, which can also creditor expenses for digital educational projects. A central point of dispute, the obligation to continue the training of teachers, was dropped. This was mostly perceived as a burden, although the countries assert that they want to expand measures to qualify teachers. The Tagesschau reports that the agreement enables the countries to make a prerequisite immediately in order to drive the necessary projects quickly.

important requirements for the digital pact

The new pact comes after long negotiations that have been in progress since December 2022. The first pact had expired in mid -May 2024 and had severely favored the financing by the federal government with 90 percent. In the new design, the distribution of the costs between the federal and state governments is now more balanced, which signals a reform and adaptation of the initiatives for digitization in Germany. Earlier commitments are recognized in the new framework, but the federal states will have to perceive the possibilities for implementation and quality assurance more in the future in order to sustainably improve digital teaching in schools.