Joint press release from Flüchtlingsrat Berlin eV, counseling and support center for young refugees and migrants (BBZ), Evin eV, neighborhood helps residential community eV, Paul Gerhardt Werk Diakonische Diensten gGmbH, WeGe ins Leben eV and XENION Psychosocial Aid for the Politically Persecuted eV
PM of 22.04.2021/XNUMX/XNUMX as PDF
SenBJF Berlin discriminates against refugees when it comes to access to education:
No digital end devices for homeschooling for students in youth welfare?
Berlin's youth and school senator justifies in a letter dated April 6.4.2021, XNUMX Refusal of subsidies for digital devices for homeschooling or alternating lessons (laptop or tablet and printer) for refugee students in supervised youth housing by the Berlin youth welfare offices.[1]
SenBJF writes: "In this respect, the refusal of the youth welfare office to act as a 'loss guarantor' is understandable and supported." Pupils who have fled to Berlin without parents are therefore left empty-handed and are unlawfully treated worse than pupils with parents who receive unemployment benefit 2 or asylum seeker benefits.
SenBJF refers to the possibility of providing digital end devices from the "digital pact' through the schools. However, SenBJF provided the schools with far too few devices from the digital pact, which is why many financially precarious students got nothing from this program.
The Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs and the Senate Department for Social Affairs Berlin have now reacted to this. Both made it clear at the beginning of February and beginning of March that for the purchase of digital end devices for homeschooling, subsidies from the job center must be approved as part of unemployment benefit II, social assistance or under the Asylum Seekers Benefits Act if the school "it does not matter for what reason' did not provide any equipment.[2] Anders Berlin's education and youth senator, who insists on rejecting the grants.
SenBJF is responsible for provisions on the scope of youth welfare for unaccompanied minor refugees in supervised youth accommodation, whose livelihood the youth welfare offices have to ensure according to the Child and Youth Welfare Act (§ 39 SGB VIII).
"Should the Berlin practice of a youth welfare service Light for deterrence of refugees serve?", asks Georg Classen from the Berlin Refugee Council. "Would it be better to repeat a school year than spend 350 euros on a school computer?" Classen continues: "Senator Scheeres illegally sets the subsistence level for refugees in youth welfare even lower than the discriminatory Asylum Seekers Benefits Act.[3] Section 39 of the Child and Youth Welfare Act in itself provides for a higher level of subsistence, in that - in contrast to unemployment benefit 2 or the Asylum Seekers Benefits Act - vacation trips are also to be financed."
Cynically, the refusal is based on the reference to priority, but actually missing services of the own administration, i.e. devices of the schools from the digital pact, to which there is no legal entitlement, as SenBJF itself admits.
In addition, SenBJF denies refugee students in supervised youth housing the "Berlin pass", which Berlin recipients of unemployment benefit 2, social assistance and asylum seeker benefits receive. For the schools, the Berlin Pass would have been the basis for the transfer of any existing digital devices from the "Digital Pact".
Contrary to what is claimed in the letter from SenBJF, the Berlin Pass is not based on any legal regulation. It is a voluntary service provided by the State of Berlin, which – like the associated provision of benefits from the education and participation package (BuT) for schoolchildren in Berlin – can and must of course be extended to children and young people within the framework of the state regulations on the Berlin Pass whose subsistence is ensured according to § 39 SGB VIII.
We demand:
- Equal right to education for all young people!
- Support for students in homeschooling and alternating lessons by approving digital devices, also in the context of youth welfare
- Berlin pass and services analogous to the education and participation package according to SGB II (BuT) also within the framework of maintenance payments according to § 39 SGB VIII (Child and Youth Welfare Act)
- Stop the discriminatory practice of youth welfare at SenBJF Berlin
Press Contact:
Refugee Council Berlin eV, www.fluechtlingsrat-berlin.de, Georg Classen Tel 030-22476311 (if necessary, let it ring for a long time because of home office),
BBZ, www.bbzberlin.de Specialist office for (un)accompanied minor refugees, Daniel Jasch, Tel. 030 66640721
[1] Letter from the Refugee Council due to Berlin pass and digital devices v. 15.3.21/6.4.21/XNUMX and response SenBJF v. XNUMX www.fluechtlingsrat-berlin.de/senbjf_nichte_schulcomputer_nach_sgb_viii
[2] www.berlin.de/jobcenter-friedrichshain-kreuzberg/aktuelles/infoflyer_digitale_endgerate.pdf and www.fluechtlingsrat-berlin.de/LAF-Info_30and www.berlin.de/sen/soziales/service/berliner-sozialrecht/category/rundzettel/2021_03-1058615.php
[3] As early as the 2015/16 refugee crisis, SenBJF had refused the Berlin pass and monthly tickets and even illegally reduced social assistance to 1 euro/day. As a result, many young people were forced to drive without a ticket and pushed into crime.