The Burgenland way

Ready for a school year with lots of “sweets”

Director of Education Alfred Lehner and Daniela Winkler, State Councillor for Education.(Bild: Christoph Novak)

In order to provide Burgenland's children with the best education, the province and the Directorate of Education have decided to continue and expand proven projects in the new school year.

After a nine-week vacation, classes start again in Burgenland's schools on Monday. 33,066 pupils will be attending school in the 2024/25 school year. 234 more pupils will attend compulsory education than in the previous school year - that means an increase of eight classes. Across the country, 31 fewer pupils will attend upper secondary school than in the same period last year. A total of 2716 state teachers will be employed - that is 87 more than in the previous school year. The number of federal teachers is 1684. 254 teachers were newly employed.

State wants optimal framework conditions 
Because education should be a stable foundation on which many things are built, State Education Councillor Daniela Winkler and Education Director Alfred Lehner want to continue and expand proven projects. For example, families are to continue to receive financial support with the school start-up grant and lunch subsidies. Free tutoring, which has been offered at schools since last year, will also continue. "It is an important local learning support for pupils and relieves the financial burden on parents," says Winkler.

Numerous successful projects
Due to the positive evaluation, additional free English lessons will continue to be offered in elementary school. Children in the second grade will also once again receive a recorder to encourage their interest in music. The daily exercise and sports unit, which is used by more than 70 percent of elementary school, will also remain in place. Detto the pilot project "Every child should learn to swim" and the literacy project "Reading Writing Understanding". In mid-October, children in the last compulsory year of kindergarten, primary school pupils in the first and third grades and pupils at general special schools will receive their new copies of "The Flying Castle" by author Thomas Brezina. The "Youth in Parliament" project was further developed and remains an important part of democratic education under the title "#participate, on site in Europe".

Education Director Alfred Lehner is convinced that all of these measures have set the right course: "Children should become self-determined people by promoting their strengths and developing them into active members of society where they can and want to take responsibility."