Sport - Education Minister against reform of the Federal Youth Games
Lower Saxony's Culture Minister Julia Willie (Greens) spoke out against a reform of the Federal Youth Games. "The Culture Ministry accepted and implemented the decision of the Sports Commission last year and finds it sensible to let it take effect first before calling for a change again," Hamburg told the German Press Agency in Hannover in response to a query. She sees no reason to change this assessment.
"We are receiving positive feedback on the possibilities for implementation. This is particularly successful because the offering of the Federal Youth Games itself has become more diverse," the minister emphasized.
A year after the controversial reform of the Federal Youth Games, Hesse's Culture Minister Armin Schwarz (CDU) wants to reverse it and put more emphasis on performance. "The wheel must be turned back as quickly as possible. It's going in the completely wrong direction when we tell our children that performance has nothing to do with life," Schwarz told the "Bild" newspaper before a planned meeting of the Sports Commission of the Culture Ministers' Conference (KMK) with representatives of the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB) on Thursday in Frankfurt.
Since this school year, the annual games in the athletics discipline have only been organized as a competition and no longer as a competition for all primary school children up to the fourth grade. Until now, this had only been the case in the first two classes.
The performance character of the Federal Youth Games recedes into the background, and the performances of primary school children are now evaluated differently and less rigidly. With this innovation, the games were intended to become more child-friendly, as the Committee for the Federal Youth Games and the Sports Commission of the Culture Ministers' Conference (KMK) had already decided in 2021.
Last year, Lower Saxony's Sports Minister Daniela Behrens (SPD) criticized the reform. She would consider it "a false signal, especially towards sports clubs, if we no longer or hardly take performance criteria into account."
Julia Willie, the Green Party's Minister of Culture in Lower Saxony, supports the current structure of the Federal Youth Games and sees no need for change, as stated to the German Press Agency in Hanover. The reform, which has received positive feedback and made the games more diverse, was implemented by the Ministry of Culture last year.
Armin Schwarz, the CDU's Culture Minister in Hesse, however, wants to reverse the reform and place more emphasis on performance. He believes telling children that performance is not important is going in the wrong direction.
The performance character of the Federal Youth Games has been reduced in recent times, with primary school children's performances now evaluated differently and less rigidly. This change was introduced to make the games more child-friendly, as decided by the Committee for the Federal Youth Games and the Sports Commission of the Culture Ministers' Conference (KMK) in 2021.
Daniela Behrens, Lower Saxony's Sports Minister, had previously criticized the reform, stating that it could send a false signal to sports clubs if performance criteria were no longer emphasized.
The annual games in the athletics discipline are now only organized as a competition for primary school children up to the fourth grade, a shift that was only previously applied to the first two classes.
This matter will be discussed further at a meeting of the Sports Commission of the Culture Ministers' Conference (KMK) with representatives of the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB) on Thursday in Frankfurt.
The Federal Youth Games, which involve schools from various regions in Germany, including Lower Saxony, Hesse, and Hamburg, among others, aim to promote sports and cultural activities among young people. The reforms and changes to the games are a topic of ongoing debate and concern in the German society.
