German minister backs mobile phone ban at primary school
"The body of research is becoming increasingly clear: excessive screen time leads to poorer academic performance, reduced social skills and mental health problems," the conservative politician told the newspapers of the Funke Media Group, in remarks seen by dpa.
"We need to address this very quickly and very intensively," Prien added.
In Germany, the country's federal states are responsible for issues relating to education, including the handling of mobile phones in schools. Prien, who was previously the education minister of the northern state of Schleswig-Holstein has clear views, however.
"Private mobile phone use should be banned in primary schools. In secondary schools, age-appropriate rules should be established wherever possible," she said.
The issue is currently being examined in Germany at state level. Berlin will support the process by providing the scientific basis, Prien added.
"From my experience, it is about largely, but age-appropriately, banning private mobile phone use in schools," she said. Experience showed that schools and most parents are grateful for clear, uniform guidelines.
Earlier in the week, EU youth and education ministers considered a range of measures to curb the risks to young people from excessive smartphone use.
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New York Times
6 days ago
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Crystal Palace, UEFA and CAS: What now for the club, the manager and players?
Three months after winning the FA Cup, Crystal Palace finally know which European competition they will play in this season. Confirmation came just before 11:30am on Monday morning, but it was not good news. Palace will be in the Conference League. After UEFA's Club Financial Control Body (CFCB) ruled Palace were in breach of multi-club rules and demoted them from the Europa League, for which they had qualified courtesy of that FA Cup win, the club appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). But after a hearing last Friday, CAS communicated on Monday that they had upheld the original decision. Advertisement With that news came anger and fury from the Palace supporters, and bitter disappointment for those at the club. The initial decision had felt, chairman Steve Parish said, 'a terrible injustice'. This, too, will feel that way. Less than 24 hours earlier, they had celebrated winning a second trophy in three months after defeating Liverpool in the Community Shield at Wembley. This was a brutal return to earth with a bump. Regardless, the ramifications of the UEFA and CAS rulings could be far-reaching across the club. First, it's worth clinging to a small positive. While they will not be admitted to the Europa League, it should not be forgotten that Palace will still be embarking upon their first campaign in European competition. Amid all the understandable doom and gloom and disappointment, that is a small chink of light for all involved. They have not yet given up on this case, either. Not necessarily in the hope they could yet secure a reprieve and a return to UEFA's second competition, but they might explore suing their former major shareholder, John Textor, who has since sold Eagle Football's 43 per cent stake in the club to Woody Johnson. If that were to happen, they would seek to recoup their extensive legal costs and look to claim damages for the difference in prize money between the Europa League and Conference League. Roughly speaking, the overall prize pot for teams competing in the Conference League (€285m; $330m) is around half that of clubs in the Europa League (€565m). It should also be noted that Palace would have qualified automatically for the group stage of the Europa League. By dropping down into the Conference League, they must now beat either the Norwegian side Fredrikstad or Denmark's Midtjylland — currently going head-to-head to reach the Europa League — in the Conference League play-off round to reach the group stage. Their opponents are likely to be Fredrikstad, who are 3-1 down from their home leg. Their point of contention is primarily that Textor did not act when UEFA's email was received by Lyon and missed by Palace. Had he done so, Palace argue, he could have placed his shares into a blind trust ahead of the designated deadline of March 1, and both sides would be competing in the Europa League. Advertisement Textor is relaxed about any legal action that may come his way, but, regardless of the success, it demonstrates the strength of feeling around the situation and reiterates that sense that everyone around this situation feels as if they have been wronged. 'I remain stunned by UEFA's decision to ignore all of the evidence and the on-pitch result to demote Crystal Palace from the Europa League,' he told The Athletic. 'The rule is clear: a (blind) trust is only needed if there is decisive influence. If I had decisive influence, then you would have already seen Eagle Football players on the ground at Selhurst Park, but after four years of ownership, there is not one example of multi-club collaboration on the Palace roster. 'Unfortunately, the insanity at UEFA will be resolved, and we will come to learn of their remedy as the 'Crystal Palace rule' in 2026, but that will be tragically late for a community that deserves better.' That the final outcome came after winning the Community Shield is all the more galling. UEFA's ruling was delivered two months after the FA Cup victory — a period that should have been one of celebration, but which became sullied by the anxious realisation that there could be an issue just days after that success. Palace deserved to have been able to enjoy their outstanding achievements for longer and without the next chapter being shaped by decisions made in a courtroom rather than on the pitch. There is also a sense of deja vu to all this. After finishing third in the top flight in 1990-91, they were denied what they thought would be a UEFA Cup place in the final weeks of the campaign. English clubs had been banned from European competition following the Heysel disaster in 1985, with Liverpool handed an extended ban. However, Liverpool's ban was lifted a few weeks before the end of the campaign, meaning Palace missed out. Advertisement This time they will compete in a lesser competition than the one they had anticipated — if they emerge successfully through the qualifier — but it is still almost as agonising. Palace will, eventually, seek to draw a line under this saga, however hard that may be, and move on with Johnson as the fourth principal owner, and look to be strong on the pitch across four competitions. For some of Palace's key players who have been in demand this summer, playing in a third-tier European competition may not be especially attractive. Striker Jean-Philippe Mateta in particular is eager to play in the Champions League, while it could now prove more difficult to keep hold of Eberechi Eze and captain Marc Guehi, both of whom are likely to feel they should be showcasing their talents in Europe's most prestigious competition. Glasner did not rule out the departure of either player this summer in his pre-match Community Shield press conference, while Parish conceded after the game that they might have to sell Guehi, who is out of contract next summer. The CAS ruling will not help their cause in that respect. 'We'd have to,' Parish said when asked if they would sell Guehi should an acceptable offer be made. 'For players of that calibre to leave on a free, it's a problem. We had one bid (last summer), but Joachim (Andersen) went (to Fulham instead) and we couldn't afford to lose both defenders. 'We had another bid in January, but that was a difficult situation as well. The player had a point of view on that one. We'll have to see what happens, but it needs a new contract or a conclusion of some kind.' That said, no Palace player has as yet walked into the club and demanded a move on the back of the CAS decision. Palace would play an additional six games, guaranteed, if they emerge through their Conference League play-off fixture, but travel is likely to be more onerous, with trips to distant parts of Europe due to the calibre of teams involved. Chelsea, last year's winners, took an inexperienced squad to Almaty, Kazakhstan, last December for a group game against Astana in the competition. But even they found recovery time and performances affected back in the Premier League. Palace, in contrast, boast a far thinner squad, and the extra travelling may put significant extra pressure on their Premier League performances. If they enjoy a run deep into the Conference League, which is plausible, that additional load will surely take its toll. Glasner has called for at least two more signings after a 'passive' window, and, while he is content to work with a smaller squad, it does feel as though Palace require further reinforcements to provide proper strength in depth — and should any important players leave, then it will become even more essential. Advertisement 'It helps if players are in early when you start pre-season because you have time to train,' Glasner said on Friday. 'After this, training has more or less stopped, and it's just games. It makes it harder to integrate players. This is what we missed (by not making early signings). But I never complain, it's in the past, I can't complain. 'We definitely need two more players. One at the back, one in attack. We have good numbers, good quality, good competition. Challenging players for the top level is what we need.' Palace's transfer activity has been hindered by all the uncertainty this summer. Prospective signings would have sought clarity and certainty before committing. Their financial position is also awkward, with Parish saying the club is still paying off transfer fees for players signed in previous seasons, cautioning against lofty expectations for a host of new arrivals as a result. It seems clear that Glasner will have to work with only a small number of additions to his existing squad. 'If we had four more players, I don't know what we could achieve, but it's not as simple as that,' Parish said. 'We have a lot of outgoings this year because we're paying a lot of transfer fees for players we already have. We'll do whatever we can. 'At some point, you have to recycle your squad or you're pushing off problems. We'll do everything we can in the next few weeks to give ourselves the best chance. I'm aware we're in four competitions and it's not going to be easy. 'Maybe Ismaila (Sarr) will go to the Africa Cup of Nations (in December). We're trying to cope with all those things. But the amount of money we have isn't infinite.' Glasner's approach to management is focused. He tries to stay in the moment and avoids looking too far back or ahead, preferring instead to scrutinise variables he and his team can control. That will be the way forward for him now. There will no doubt be disappointment, particularly given he won the Europa League with Eintracht Frankfurt in 2022. He has a track record in that competition, but he is extremely ambitious and has belief in his staff and his players. His mindset will now be on trying to win the Conference League and improve on last season's 12th-placed Premier League finish. It may be more challenging now for Palace to convince players to join, particularly if they are competing for those players with teams in better competitions. But there are still draws, with Glasner as good a sales pitch as any, and the excellent spirit within the dressing room that has been cultivated since his arrival. Advertisement Given that Palace are generally targeting younger talents with a view to developing them, that calibre of player may still be enticed by the opportunity to compete in Europe, even if it is in the Conference League. Despite the disappointment, Palace will be one of the strongest teams in the Conference League and among the favourites to win it. To go all the way, lift another trophy, and qualify for the 2026-27 Europa League would be the perfect response to being denied what they believe was their rightful place. Nothing, surely, would stand in their way. Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Play today's puzzle
Yahoo
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Germany debates quota for immigrant students
When Sabine Schwarz* first heard about German Education Minister Karin Prien's idea via a friend, she thought it was just a bad joke. A quota limiting the number of immigrants at German schools was a "conceivable model," the center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) politician had suggested, adding that Germany should check what other countries do to determine "whether that ends up being 30 or 40%". Schwarz is the head of an elementary school in Germany's most populous state of North Rhine-Westphalia. More than 80% of her 350 pupils are from immigrant families. She says Prien's proposal would be impossible to implement in reality: "We don't even have the quota of people here who would qualify as German-speaking or German," Schwarz told DW. The Germans who live in the detached houses next to the school prefer to send their children elsewhere, says Schwarz. She finds this sad. Almost 20 years ago, North Rhine-Westphalia abolished the obligation to send one's child to a primary school in the neighborhood. As a result, many parents avoid schools like Schwarz's — for fear that learning among a high proportion of immigrants could have a negative impact on their own children's academic success. "What you always hear is that migration is equated with a lower level of education and that the children learn more slowly. But that's not true at all," Schwarz says. "For example, we benefited from the wave of refugees in 2015 because we received many children who were very interested in getting a good education." Schwarz criticizes the fact that all children are lumped together. There are "traumatized children with refugee experience who can't even think about education at first, and children who are very interested in education and children who have fled poverty." Her school's motto is: Every child is welcome, no matter where they come from. And no child is abandoned. In Germany, around 30% of the population of over 80 million have some immigrant background. But this percentage is much higher among young people, especially in urban areas. According to Berlin's statistics office, for example, children make up 17% of the population, and 55% of all children and teenagers living in the city have an immigrant background. In individual districts of the capital, such as Neukölln, that number rises to over 70%. Stefan Düll, president of the German Teachers' Association, has welcomed the debate that Prien has initiated, although he suspects that her proposal will fail to be implemented. He agrees with critics who say that the problem is not an immigrant background, but rather a lack of German language skills. "The German Teachers' Association has been pointing out for years that it makes teaching considerably more difficult if many pupils do not have sufficient knowledge of German," he told DW in a written statement. "In our view, however, there is little point in redistributing pupils just to achieve a certain quota in individual classes. This is hardly feasible from an organizational point of view and does not promote social cohesion within a school community." Instead, Düll praised the federal and state government's program making €20 billion ($23.4 bn) available over the next few years for 4,000 schools with a particularly high number of immigrant students. German education researcher Klaus Hurrelmann believes in the positive effect of diverse school classes: "The minister's proposal is understandable, because a well-mixed composition of school classes and learning groups according to origin clearly leads to better work." However, he warns that implementing Prien's proposal would lead to discrimination and be counterproductive. "The resulting misunderstandings and perceived discrimination do not outweigh any potential benefits. Approaches that support schools with a very high proportion of children and young people with language problems would be better." The federal students' body (Bundesschülerkonferenz) sharply criticized Prien's idea of introducing an immigrant quota at German schools. In a statement, it said it sends out the dangerous signal that not all children are equally welcome. The students argue that such quotas do not promote a fairer education system, but stigmatize children. An individual's ethnic origin should never become a criterion for educational opportunities. Also, schools should be places of participation, not exclusion, they wrote. However, the students' representative body does agree with one of the minister's proposals: "We are in favor of the German aptitude tests for four-year-old children suggested by Karin Prien. However, these must be introduced across the board and be compulsory for all children in Germany, not just students with an immigrant background. If the results are inadequate, targeted, comprehensive support measures must be introduced — early, binding and effective. This is the only way to ensure that every child starts their educational career with the same opportunities." Performance problems among students in Germany are by no means exclusive to those with an immigrant background. When it comes to education in Germany, one thing is certain: Teachers, parents, pupils and experts all agree that the system urgently needs to be reformed. Germany performs too poorly in many categories: In the last PISA study in 2022, Germany only came in mid-table in an international comparison. The competence of 15-year-olds in reading, mathematics and science fell to the lowest levels ever measured. According to the International Primary School Reading Survey (IGLU) from 2023, one in four fourth-graders in Germany has difficulties reading. And 56,000 pupils left school in Germany in the same year without obtaining even a low-level degree. That's over 7%, and the trend is rising. Many argue that issues of integration and language learning must be tackled in pre-school education. But statistics show that Germany lacks around 125,000 nursery teachers in childcare facilities across the country. Sabine Schwarz can confirm this from her own experience: "We work very closely with the kindergartens, but we can't make up for the lack of staff there. They need trained specialists and the appropriate resources to promote language learning. Unfortunately, this is not happening at the moment, so we have a gap between kindergarten and elementary school." The principal emphasizes: "The work in the kindergartens is key to educational success in elementary school." *Name changed to protect anonymity. This article was originally written in German.
Yahoo
09-07-2025
- Yahoo
'Chancellor of lies:' AfD's Weidel skewers Merz over first two months
German far-right leader Alice Weidel on Wednesday launched a fierce attack on Chancellor Friedrich Merz over his young administration's record since taking office in May. "For the bitterly disappointed citizens, you are already the chancellor of lies, Mr Merz, whose broken campaign promises could fill entire catalogues," said Weidel, the co-leader of the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD). In a speech during a general debate in the Bundestag, Germany's lower house of parliament, Weidel criticized Merz sharply over the controversial decision to cut electricity taxes only for large industries, agriculture and forestry, instead of for the entire population. The measure was included in the coalition agreement between Merz's conservative bloc - the Christian Democratic Union and the Christian Social Union - and the centre-left Social Democratic Party (SPD), but was left out of the draft 2025 budget. "Your word is worth nothing, ever when it stands in black and white in your meagre coalition agreement," said Weidel, calling Merz a "paper chancellor" under the spell of the SPD. In her speech, she also attacked the new government's migration policy, blasting "window dressing exercises" such as Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt's much-criticized effort to toughen up border controls. She further said the government's plans were being financed with an "orgy of debts" and criticized support for Ukraine. In response, Merz rejected Weidel's "half-truths, slander and personal disparagement." Amid the heated scenes, Bundestag President Julia Klöckner called on lawmakers not to "belittle each other personally here and accuse each other of lying."
