At the start of school:

Every school now has a police officer

(Bild: Christian Jauschowetz)

On Monday, 199,742 pupils and 21,416 teachers in Upper Austria go back to class or go to class for the first time. In addition to the shortage of teachers - there are even job interviews on the first day of school - there is an increasing problem of violence at schools. For this reason, a police contact person will be assigned to each educational institution from this year onwards.

This year's school year, 15,253 first graders are already looking forward to it, is being held under the motto "Look instead of looking away" in order to address the increasing problem of violence in the classroom. The focus is on individual development opportunities and the protection of all pupils through proven concepts such as "Talents Upper Austria" or "Prevention against hate online".

A new feature is that every school has a police contact at the nearest police station. In addition to problems with violence, Education Minister Martin Polaschek (ÖVP) also sees a need for improvement in the teaching of German - especially in urban centers - during a visit to Linz: "I don't believe that children who can't speak German should attend regular classes."

Facts and figures

• Almost 35 percent of all children starting school in Upper Austria are from the Linz conurbation.
• 18 schools from Upper Austria are taking part in a pilot school project to evaluate AI-supported learning software.
• Upper Austria expands the range of school social work and psychosocial support services from 52 to 62 full-time positions.
• 96 pupils start the school year in home schooling in Upper Austria. In Corona times, there were over 1400.
• 463 million euros for the modernization of compulsory schools in Upper Austria: The current construction and financing program includes 145 projects, 114 more are still being planned.

Language deficit is a mega challenge
Instead, it is necessary to offer additional "intensive language learning courses" for German support classes in order to provide affected children with basic knowledge for everyday life. The problem of the lack of language education is illustrated by one figure: since last year, teachers have sought support more than 1600 times for teaching multilingual classes and German courses.

New assistants to relieve teachers
In order to achieve these goals, teachers in particular need to be supported. New administrative assistants - there are currently 135 of them - are to ensure that educational specialists "can do what they studied for and what they are passionate about: teaching children", according to education officer Christine Haberlander (ÖVP).