Germany: €5 fine for being late at school.

In an attempt to combat the problem of students being late for school, the Durer High School in the German city of Nuremberg has begun imposing a €5 fine on late arrivals.

The internal law requires that every student who consistently and without excuse violates the school attendance regulations on time be fined. A few months after the move was implemented, the principal Rainer Geisdorfer said the measure is yielding good results.

The student council also reported that the number of students who are late to class has decreased significantly since the fine was introduced.

Gisdorfer explained that the new measure was not actually imposed as a form of punishment, adding, "We have a lot of students who, for whatever reason, do not come to school on time."

The principal continued: "These little ones don't care if you threaten them with expulsion from school, but paying a €5 fine really bothers them."

He also stressed that the last step the school resorts to is imposing a fine, if talking to parents, teachers, school psychologists and social workers does not help solve the problem.

So far, the fine has been imposed in limited cases, and it only applies to pupils between the ages of nine and 11, according to Geisdorfer.

He adds that imposing the fine in the first place has increased awareness of the problem.

The school principal estimates that around 5% to 10% of pupils are not interested in their educational achievement at school, to the point that this trend could jeopardize their chances of graduating.

A spokeswoman for the education ministry in the state where Nuremberg is located said that it is the responsibility of each school to record these violations.

She adds that in exceptional cases, the administrative authorities of each district can impose a fine at the request of the schools or the school supervisory authorities.

Data from the ministry’s schools sector also indicate that local schools reported students missing classes around 1,500 times last year, either because they were late for school or were absent for several days, an increase from the previous year when the number of reported cases reached 1,250, while the number in 2019 before the outbreak of the Corona pandemic was around 800 cases.

Meanwhile, Stefan Doll, head of the German Teachers’ Union, said that the closure of schools during the pandemic contributed to some students losing interest in continuing their education.

Source News : https://ar.rt.com/z38i Published on 15-01-2024