A nondescript high-rise building on Nollendorfplatz, third floor. A room, not particularly large and functionally furnished. At the front, a digital whiteboard, in front of it four rows of chairs, with a narrow aisle in between. In this unassuming setting, what the entire republic is currently debating takes place: an integration course.
The Shortened Classroom: A Day Under Pressure
On this particular morning, there is nothing to suggest that anything controversial is happening in the classroom of the Hartnack School. As on any other day, Paul Brockmann stands before his class. Five times a week, he teaches his course, three hours a day. As on any other day, he begins by checking homework. “When is Labor Day?” is one question. “When is German Unity Day?” is another. As he goes over the answers, individual participants trickle in. Those who are late must give a complete sentence explaining why.
Everyday life. Unspectacular, really. But for several days now, this seemingly innocuous lesson has become a major political issue.
Berlin’s Social Senator: People Risk Ending Up “In a Dead End”
On February 9, the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) informed social welfare organizations in a circular that “no further admissions for participation in integration courses under § 44 Abs. AufenthG can be granted until further notice.” Federal Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt (CSU) is thus reversing a decision by the previous Ampel government. With the aim of enabling integration from the outset, the previous government had opened the courses to practically everyone.
Now, only those who have a legal entitlement or are officially obliged to participate will be allowed to attend. People from Ukraine, EU citizens, asylum seekers, and those with temporary stays (Geduldete) who wish to learn German voluntarily will no longer have their courses financed. Open and future applications will be rejected. Only those who already have a place may keep it.
Approximately 130,000 people nationwide are expected to be affected, with 8,000 in Berlin alone. In Brockmann’s class, only five of the 18 participants would still have a place under the new rules. The remaining 13 would, as recommended by the BAMF circular, be referred to “self-study options” or advised to pay for themselves. Berlin’s Social Senator Cansel Kiziltepe (SPD) called the decision “irresponsible and senseless.” People risk ending up “in a dead end.”
Integration Course Participants: “If We Work, We Pay Contributions”
Berra Boga sees it the same way. When she came to the Hartnack School in 2001, she was the first teacher with a migration background. Today, she heads the department for BAMF courses. She conducts the placement interviews that precede every integration course. “The participants all have a very clear perspective,” Boga reports from these conversations. “I don’t see anyone who says: ‘Oh, I don’t know where to go.'”
Even in the classroom on the third floor of the Hartnack School, there is a palpable desire to be able to support oneself with one’s own job. The teacher is currently standing in front of the class, holding up his health insurance card. Brockmann asks if one has to pay for treatment in Germany if one has such a card. One participant answers “No.” The teacher, who is only interested in the general difference between private and statutory insurance, is about to be satisfied with this when another participant raises his hand and disagrees. “Yes, we have to pay,” he says. “If we work, we pay contributions.”
Integration Courses are Often the “First Family in Germany”
The young man’s will to soon belong to those who pay such contributions is evident. He sits in the second to last row. His right arm is around his neighbor. The gesture is not casual, rather gentle. They have been a couple for a month. They met in the course.
Otherwise, Brockmann’s class is familiar. A participant has to decide who will solve the next task on the board. As he hands the pen to his classmate, he smiles at him, says “my brother,” and they high-five. Brockmann occasionally asks another participant how her mother is doing. In a brief conversation during group work, the teacher says he often hears from his students that the integration course is “the first family in Germany.” The title of the workbook they use is “Treffpunkt” (Meeting Point).
With the integration courses, a social safety net would also be lost. “The government is not fulfilling its social responsibility,” criticizes department head Boga. And she predicts: “In two years, we will get statistics saying that migrants have poor language skills and do not want to integrate.”
Monika Szklarek-Wünsch, the deputy head of the Hartnack School, underscores this concern. Soon, more children without German language skills are likely to be enrolled in school because their parents could not learn German, she believes. Szklarek-Wünsch also anticipates additional burdens on the social system. People would be kept dependent longer than necessary. Especially for those with temporary stays (Geduldete), who previously also had a right to integration courses, she fears negative consequences.
At the beginning of this year, over 17,000 people with a temporary stay were registered in Berlin. A person is considered to have a temporary stay if they are obliged to leave the country but cannot be deported for legal, humanitarian, or political reasons. A single temporary stay usually only lasts for a few months but is often extended for years. During this time, those with temporary stays would no longer have access to integration courses. But who knows what it does to people when they live solely on social benefits without any prospects, asks Szklarek-Wünsch. “Then there is of course also the concern that some will get stupid ideas.” Her colleague Boga also warns: “A parallel society, desired by the government, will form.”
“We Learned That We Are in a Good Mood”
In Brockmann’s class, the BAMF decision is not a topic this morning. The curriculum must be followed. Shortly before the break, Brockmann leads a loosening exercise. The students stand up, the teacher turns on a music box. On the board is the text of a children’s song for dancing, which has gone viral on social media. “We are in a good mood up, in a good mood down, in a good mood front, in a good mood back, in a good mood right, in a good mood left, in a good mood everywhere,” the participants sing and make the corresponding dance movements. At “everywhere,” they turn around their own axis. Many laughing faces are seen.
Afterward, Brockmann asks his students what they have just learned. “We heard something,” someone says. “We practiced our German,” another. A participant in the second row says: “We learned that we are in a good mood.” Brockmann laughs out loud and dismisses his class for a fifteen-minute break.
Source: https://www.morgenpost.de/berlin/article411261827/das-gekuerzte-klassenzimmer-eine-stunde-in-einem-integrationskurs.html
