80 percent of the population, too, are in favour of an enforceable right to digital education
Bitkom’s president Berg: “Good digital education must not depend on chance”
Berlin, 15th November 2021 – In view of the progressing coalition talks and the incipient legislature period, Germany’s digital industry association, Bitkom, is calling upon the nascent German government and parliament to guarantee an enforceable “right to digital education” for all people in Germany. This would require changing the constitution. The goal of the initiative is to enable all people to digitally access any publicly funded or co-funded education and training independent of where they live, their financial capabilities, age, and skills. This should be possible without compromising on the quality of teaching and the teaching content. According to a representative Bitkom survey, 80 percent of the people in Germany are currently in favour of such an enforceable legal right.
According to Bitkom, implementing a right to digital education is dependent on creating uniform nationwide standards. For this, it is necessary to change the constitution. Specifically, Article 91b.2 of Germany’s Basic Law would have to be adjusted to include the “digitisation of education” as one of the reasons for federal and state governments to work together in education. On the state side, too, it would be necessary to adjust constitutions accordingly: compulsory education would have to be extended from visiting a school in the sense of a physical school building to include visiting digital lessons.
The new federal government should come to an understanding with the German Länder, says Bitkom, over how to guarantee such a right to digital education. The implementation is to be bundled within the framework of a national education platform.
“Since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, Germany has been turning its back on equal opportunities in accessing school education. Whether social distanced learning is successful and school communities are preserved is up to the commitment of individual teachers and schools. However, good digital education cannot depend on chance,” warns Bitkom’s president Achim Berg. It is imperative to include school children with physical, intellectual, and social disabilities as well as young people that are unable to access classrooms due to other limitations. “By using more teachers with physical disabilities, schools could be made more inclusive. This, in turn, promotes the fundamental right to free choice of profession.”
However, a right to a digital education should reach beyond compulsory education – and should also be applied to higher education, vocational training, and life-long learning. Bitkom’s president Berg on this: “A right to digital education would make accessible institutions along the entire education chain, safeguard participation, and create chances for all people in this country.”
Go here to download our most recent position paper on the right to digital education.
Methodology note: The basis of these data is a survey conducted by Bitkom Research commissioned by Germany’s digital industry association, Bitkom. It included telephone surveys of 1,007 people older than 16 in August 2021. The survey is representative of the population.
