80 percent of schools use corona catch-up program

According to the Ministry of Education, 80% of schools in Saxony are using the learning budget provided by the Free State to mitigate the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic. A total of 1132 schools took advantage of the "Flexible Learning Budget" program launched at the beginning of the 2023/2024 school year, as the ministry announced in Dresden on Thursday.

The budget will continue to be used continuously in the second half of the year. A total of ten million euros per school year is available for the state's own coronavirus successor program. Around 6.5 million euros have so far been tied up in service contracts.

After the federally funded "Catching up after corona" program expired at the end of the 2022/2023 school year, Saxony continued the program with its own funds. This means that all public general education schools and some vocational schools will receive a learning budget for supplementary individual support measures and all-day programs. Independent schools will continue to receive budget funds for the promotion of all-day programs.

"I am delighted that so many schools are using the flexible learning budget," said Saxony's Minister of Education Christian Piwarz (CDU). The money will continue to be used to provide pupils with individual and differentiated support beyond the classroom.

According to the Ministry of Education, there is an "increased demand" for resilience exercises in particular: This involves, for example, learning to deal better with stress, pressure and generally difficult situations. In addition, motor skills training, mindfulness training and sporting activities are also offered, for example.

A flexible learning budget is also to be made available to schools for the coming school year.