Overview
- The Hessian government presented the package on Monday and said it will spend an extra €50 million through the current legislative period to strengthen schools.
- The new subject 'KI und Digitale Welt' will be compulsory for grade 5 in 2027/28, extend to grade 6 in 2028/29 and is scheduled to reach higher grades through 2029/30.
- The package finances 680 additional teaching posts and restores 100 targeted positions next year plus 100 the following year for schools in challenging social situations.
- Unions and business groups praised the focus on core skills and digital literacy while opposition parties called the measures insufficient because roughly 300 earlier cuts at Brennpunktschulen are not fully reversed.
- Practical risks remain significant because Hesse faces a shortage of trained teachers, a multi‑billion euro school building backlog and unclear plans for where new informatics teachers and extra class time will come from.