Britta Ernst resigns as Brandenburg Minister of Education. She cited the lack of support as the reason. His successor is the former Minister of State Freiberg.
Brandenburg Education Minister Britta Ernst (SPD) resigns. Ernst said at a brief press conference in Potsdam on Monday that he had asked Prime Minister Dietmar Woidke (SPD) to resign. Woidke complied with this request. Ernst is the wife of Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD).
Secretary of State for Education Steffen Freiberg (also SPD) will replace Ernst.
Ernst: “No more unity”
Ernst cited a lack of support as the reason for his resignation. The challenges are huge for the Ministry of Education, he said. “It takes a great deal of unity to oppose it.”
“This unity no longer exists,” he said in a written statement. In it, he also defended himself: “We have made many good and right decisions to secure teaching in Brandenburg in the past and in this legislative period.”
Criticism of Ernst from the coalition
In recent years, the minister has been repeatedly criticized by associations and the opposition, including the coalition. In the SPD parliamentary group, as well as in the Greens group, there has been criticism recently of plans to allocate 200 permanent teacher positions to administrative specialists and school social workers.
As a result, resources for make-up and additional offers such as full-time classes and inclusion should be reduced in all schools. It was designed as a building block to respond to the lack of teachers.
Woidke commends Ernst: “Foresight and a firm hand”
Brandenburg Prime Minister Dietmar Woidke (SPD) thanked Ernst. “I regret this decision,” Woidke said. The Prime Minister appreciated his work. “In difficult times – I’m just thinking of the corona pandemic – he ran the office with foresight and determination,” he said.
Jan Redmann, leader of Brandenburg’s CDU faction, also paid him his respects. “Cleaning the clutter of failed politics of the past 30 years requires broad and reliable support.”
Minister of Education since 2017
Ernst was Member of the Hamburg Parliament from 1997 to 2011 and Minister for Schools and Vocational Education in Schleswig-Holstein from 2014 to 2017. In September 2017 he became head of the education department in Brandenburg.
Brandenburg Pedagogical Association does not see problems such as teacher shortage and heavy digitalization as being solved by resignation. Association President Hartmut Staker said:
Source: ZDF
I am Timothy Glover, a professional journalist and content creator. I specialize in writing and editing for news websites, specifically covering politics. I have been working as an author at News Unrolled for the past five years and have built up a reputation for producing quality content that is both informative and engaging.
