Stockholm’s municipal schools are predicted to lose several hundred million kroner this year. This in turn leads to sharp reductions, and the trend is already visible in several places in the country. Now the country’s teachers are sounding the alarm about an unsustainable working situation that affects the children. According to the education committee in the City of Stockholm’s calculations, roughly 80 percent of the municipality’s primary schools will run a deficit this year. The reason is due, among other things, to increased school fees and increased personnel costs, but also to the fact that room rents, food and purchases have skyrocketed as a result of inflation. In total, it is about SEK 265.9 million in Stockholm in 2023. Now the municipality’s teachers’ union is roaring on an Instagram account where they have collected several testimonies from affected teachers. The teachers’ union is also planning a demonstration against the school cuts to be held on May 6. A similar trend can also be seen in Gothenburg, and a similar demonstration is also planned there. The teacher: Sees connection between downsizing and increased gang crime The teacher and chief protection officer at Sweden’s teachers in Stockholm, Hanna Garberg, is the initiator of the Instagram account. According to Garberg, the purpose of the account is to inform citizens and tax payers about how the cuts will affect the schools. In addition to demonstrating in Stockholm, they now want an additional budget of SEK 250 million. In After five, she says that these are businesses that are already not working today but are at risk of becoming even more lean. In a school in the Stockholm suburb of Västertorp, nine positions have been cut. According to Garberg, the teachers there have clearly been able to see a connection between the cutbacks and the students ending up in gang crime. – In the short term, students in need of extra support will not receive it. But in the longer term, students run the risk of not being eligible for upper secondary school and higher education. Education Minister: “Prioritization issue” Education Minister Lotta Edholm (L) says that she, as a former student councilor in Stockholm, is concerned about the development. In the budget for 2023, according to Edholm, they made the biggest investment in the school in 30 years, one thought with it was that the municipalities would protect the school from savings. – The school is municipal in Sweden, I am the first to be critical of that. But municipal politicians must take their responsibility. The city of Stockholm is Sweden’s absolute richest municipality with 83 billion in the coffers. They have made a profit year after year. It is a question of priorities. Now the minister says that an inquiry should be appointed to give greater responsibility to the state when it comes to the communal school’s funding. But it will take a while. – No one would be happier than me if I had to take on greater governmental responsibility. Teachers’ union: Open goal for education minister Johanna Jaara Åstrad at Sweden’s Teachers believes, just like the education minister, that it is a matter of priority, but also from the state’s side. – We are in a situation where Swedish schools go back 12 billion every year. We don’t care where the money comes from. What we care about is that it is an unsustainable situation that affects children and students here and now. According to her, the situation has been pressured and stressed for many years, not least because of the pandemic. – Now we face increased needs and demands, but with less money. The equation doesn’t add up. She says in Eter fem that she knows that the Liberals have stepped in for the state to take over the main responsibility for the school. She believes that it is now an open goal for the Minister of Education to do something about the matter: – Nobody but you can take the state responsibility here and now. What we need now is politics that asserts these cuts, because they will hit hard. It is an open goal for a liberal education minister to show that the state can and wants to take responsibility for the school! See the debate between the Minister of Education and Sweden’s Teachers above
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