“These cuts are a crucial mistake, we will fight for these funds!” said Ute Leidig, State Secretary in the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Social Affairs and Integration, during her visit to the editorial office of tünews INTERNATIONAL on August 28, 2024 (we reported: ”Punishing attacks with all severity” | tuenews (tunewsinternational.com)). She had been asked by members of the editorial team who had fled about the fact that the German government wanted to reduce funding for language and integration courses from 1.2 billion to 500 million euros. According to the State Secretary, 13 percent of these cuts, i.e. just under 80 million, would fall to Baden-Württemberg: “There is no way we could compensate for this, which is why we will campaign for the cuts to be reversed.” The conference of integration ministers of the federal states and the Bundesrat will be the places for this, where corresponding demands will be made. In recent years, cuts have already been reversed in this way.
The State Secretary also referred to a special program of the state of Baden-Württemberg for language courses amounting to 6.5 million euros for target groups who are not entitled to an integration course, as well as for the care of children whose mothers take part in language courses.
According to Leidig, one major problem is that there are not enough teachers available for language courses in Baden-Württemberg. In the tuenews editorial team alone, there are two women who worked as Arabic teachers in their home country and who have achieved a C 1 level in German, she was told. However, they would not be considered for language teaching. The State Secretary referred to national regulations, according to which a qualification in “German as a foreign language” is required for language teaching. However, she spoke out in favor of an appeal to the federal government to create exceptions here.
Another topic of the exchange with the editorial team was the recognition of foreign educational and professional qualifications, the long duration of which was criticized by the refugees. Here, Ute Leidig referred to the new recognition advice centers at all regional councils, which would lead to an acceleration.
See: Ministry of Social Affairs | Anerkennungsberatung
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Die Staatssekretärin Dr. Ute Leidig vom baden-württembergischen Sozial- und Integrationsministerium besuchte die Redaktion von tuenews INTERNATIONAL. Foto: tünews INTERNATIONAL / Mostafa Elyasian.
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