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Number of welcome classes in Berlin continues to rise

Willkommensklasse

Students in a welcome class sit at their desks in a classroom.

More and more refugee children and young people from Ukraine are going to school in Berlin.

By the Easter weekend, the number of welcome classes had risen to just under 50, with a total of 1025 students being taught there, according to a spokesman for the education administration. At the beginning of the Easter vacations, there were only 27 of these special welcome classes. On Monday, classes will start again in Berlin after the two-week vacations. More than 1105 young refugees will then attend regular classes, according to the spokesman.

"We can set up more welcome classes"

The Senate is preparing for the number of Ukrainian children and young people in schools to continue to rise. "We can set up more welcome classes in the short term," the spokesman said. Berlin's Governing Mayor Franziska Giffey (SPD) had said almost two weeks ago that it could be assumed that considerably more Ukrainian children and young people would want to go to school after the Easter vacations. So far, the Senate has received well over 300 applications from teachers from Ukraine who want to work in the German capital. The spokesman explained that they are in the process of recruiting more teachers.

Author: dpa/deepl.com
Publication date: 23 April 2022
Last updated: 23 April 2022

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