Many problems await

The new school year starts with old construction sites

Deputy Mayor Christoph Wiederkehr, interim. Education Director Langmeier and local councillor Wieninger in class 1C at the Alte Donau elementary school.

(Bild: Bartel Gerhard/Gerhard Bartel)

A new school year has started for around a quarter of a million pupils. Many problems await them at the start of the school year: teacher shortages, family reunification and container classes. However, the city is well prepared.

On Monday, school started for 245,000 Viennese pupils, for more than 20,000 of them for the first time. 24 children in class 1C at the Alte Donau elementary school also started a new chapter in their lives. Deputy Mayor Christoph Wiederkehr (Neos), Arno Langmeier and local councillor Pia Wieninger (SPÖ) visited the excited pupils at the start of school.

A total of 137 new school classes have been created in the new school year.

(Bild: Bartel Gerhard/Gerhard Bartel)

The backpack of tasks and problems that the education system is facing weighs heavily right from the start. Even if Education Councillor Wiederkehr emphasizes that the city has done its homework over the summer.

These are still the most pressing problems:

• Teacher shortage: the city emphasizes that it has succeeded in filling the vast majority of vacant posts with suitable teaching staff. 1600 new teachers started work on September 2. "Every class will have a classroom teacher," says Wiederkehr. Teacher turnover remains high.

• Family reunification: There continues to be an extremely high influx, especially in compulsory schools. Due to pupils from Ukraine who need to be integrated and the high influx of children of persons entitled to asylum. The number of pupils requiring German language support is also continuing to rise sharply. Orientation classes, of which there will soon be 10, are intended to help with this. There are currently six classes available at two locations, and there are now plans to expand by a further four classes. Around 300 children and young people have attended an orientation class so far. "This problem will keep us busy for some time to come," admits Langmeier.

• Container classes: A total of 137 new school classes have been created in the new school year. Vienna's schools are bursting at the seams. But the reunification of families makes additional school space necessary. For this reason, 45 mobile classes set up at short notice at five locations are also going into operation at the start of the school year. With some fierce resistance. Wiederkehr emphasizes that the schools themselves decide who should be in the container classes.

The city considers itself prepared. With "numerous reserve classrooms". The next few weeks will show whether Vienna is really so well equipped for the new school year.