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BAVARIA

Germany opens probe against rail staff over deadly crash

German police said Tuesday they had opened an investigation on suspicion of criminally negligent homicide against three railway employees following a train derailment last week that cost five lives.

Police officers stand on the track in Garmisch-Partenkirchen where the train derailed.
Police officers stand on the track in Garmisch-Partenkirchen where the train derailed. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Angelika Warmuth

The Upper Bavaria police department said prosecutors in the state capital of Munich had ordered the criminal probe over the crash of the packed regional train on Friday.

The accident occurred near the Alpine resort Garmisch-Partenkirchen, an area gearing up to host the G7 summit in late June.

The investigation is targeting “three (national railway company) Deutsche Bahn staff members on suspicion of offences including criminally negligent homicide”.

Police provided no further details on the case against the suspects.

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Public broadcaster Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR) said investigators probing the cause of the accident were focusing on possible technical defects in the undercarriage of some of the cars, as well as the railway itself.

German media reported at the weekend that Deutsche Bahn had planned maintenance work on the route beginning on June 25th. The company declined to comment.

The crash killed four adult women – two Germans and two Ukrainians – as well as a German teenager aged 14.

More than 40 passengers were hurt, one of whom is still in a critical condition, police said.

The accident occurred just after midday on Friday as school holidays were starting in the two southern German regions Baden-Wuerttemberg and Bavaria.

Police said the regional train was “very crowded” with about 140 people on board as a new €9 monthly public transport ticket valid across Germany also boosted demand.

The train had just left Garmisch-Partenkirchen for Munich when the accident took place in the Burgrain district.

From June 26-28th, heads of state and government including US President Joe Biden are due to meet at Schloss Elmau — 11 kilometres (seven miles) from Garmisch-Partenkirchen.

BR quoted Bavarian interior minister Joachim Herrmann as saying there was “no indication” that the accident could have been caused by an attack on the rails by G7 protesters in the run-up to the summit.

“We can’t rule anything out entirely but based on the investigation so far, nothing points in that direction,” he said.

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SCHOOLS

Why Bavaria is increasing maths and German lessons in primary schools

In a bid to improve lacklustre results in reading and writing following the international PISA study, the state of Bavaria is to overhaul primary education with a greater emphasis on maths and German and proposed cuts to creative arts and English lessons.

Why Bavaria is increasing maths and German lessons in primary schools

Approved by the Bavarian Cabinet on Tuesday, the new ‘PISA Initiative’ aims to address poor results among primary school pupils by introducing extra German and maths lessons.

In years one to four, children in Bavaria are set to receive an addition hour of German each week, while years one and three will also receive an extra hour of maths. 

Bavaria’s new education minister, Anna Stolz, of the Free Voters, drafted the new education concept as a means of tacking poor reading and writing skills among young pupils. 

Maths and literacy skills have been declining in Germany in recent years, causing politicians and education professionals to sound the alarm about an unfit schooling system. 

In the latest Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) study released at the end of last year, students in Germany achieved some of their lowest scores yet in core subjects like literacy, mathematics and science. 

Stolz’s overhaul of primary education aims to plug that gap. 

However, improving numeracy and literary skills comes at the expense of cuts to art, music and craft lessons, as well as a possible reduction in the number of hours of English children receive. 

READ ALSO: German school pupils plummet to ‘lowest score ever’ in international rankings

The previous schedule strictly allocated one hour for art, two hours for music, and two hours for crafts and design. Under the new system, however, four to five hours will be allocated for all of those subjects, with schools decided how they want to allot that time. 

According to Stolz, there will be no obligation to offer art, music and crafts alongside each other: instead, schools could choose to offer art in the first semester and music in the second, for example. 

Starting from the academic year 2024/2025, English lessons could also be reduced by schools. Currently, pupils in their third and fourth year of primary school study English for two hours a week, but this is set to be rejigged to allow schools to offer between one and two hours. 

Plans to cut religious education and ethical studies down from its current three hours per week were vetoed by Bavarian state premier Markus Söder (CSU) amid backlash from fellow CSU politicians and representatives of the church. 

Language tests 

In addition to curricular changes, the ‘PISA Offensive’ introduces language assessments for young children to gauge their proficiency in German.

Starting at the beginning of the 2025/26 school year, children will be tested on their language skills a year and a half before reaching school age, and once again in the spring before enrollment.

Children who don’t meet the required language level will attend special language courses to boost their attainment, and in extreme cases, children could also be held back for a year.

Gabriele Triebel, education expert for the Green Party, applauded the focus on improving maths and literacy but said that the emphasis on holistic education should not be lost. 

READ ALSO: Should children in Germany have to take language tests before school?

Boosting German and mathematics at the expense of art, music and crafts would create a two-tier system where some subjects were prioritised over others, she argued. 

The SPD also voiced reservations about the scheme and criticised the proposed cuts to English lessons. With Bavaria needing to compete internationally, reducing English provisions could jeapordise that aim, they said. 

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