School starter package

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A school starter package ( SSP ) describes a measure of the Austrian Ministry of Social Affairs (BMASGK) with which children in households with particularly low incomes and wealth have been given material support every year since 2015. This is a service of the type of material basic support in the implementation of the obligations of the Republic of Austria under Regulation (EU) No. 223/2014 (FEAD Regulation) of the European Union .

history

Even before the introduction of the start of school package there were different mechanisms of support of children and their parents with the enrollment or at the school early by the various federal states public . Only in Lower Austria , Styria and Vorarlberg were there no such benefits. In Burgenland and Upper Austria there was a school entry fee or school entry allowance in the amount of 100 euros each, but only at the beginning of the first grade of elementary school . In Carinthia , Tyrol and Salzburg there was a needs-tested school entry fee or a needs-tested “school start-up aid”. In Carinthia, children in the first to ninth grade were given a voucher worth 50 euros. In Tyrol, children of compulsory school age from 6 to 15 years of age could receive school start-up aid amounting to 145.35 euros per school-age child. In Salzburg, an underage child in households with social assistance received a school contribution of around EUR 170 once a year . In Vienna, a subsidy was made available for the purchase of school materials as part of the so-called shopping cart (around 30 to 74 euros). Per child in the primary level (elementary school) 33 EUR per year were made available, per child in the secondary level 1 around 50 EUR per year.

As part of the school launch campaign , Volkshilfe , Landesstelle Vorarlberg , created a measure in 2008 to support families at risk of poverty through private initiative. Every year in September, since 2008, children in need there, regardless of whether their parents are receiving social assistance or minimum income, can receive benefits in cash and in kind in order to make it easier for their parents to enroll school-age children. Since 2011, this school launch campaign has been carried out by the Austrian Volkshilfe in all federal states as a private initiative and financed by donations.

Goal and cause

One of the goals is to even out social inequality . Immediately after school starts, families in Austria have to finance not only the materials (exercise books, writing materials, drawing materials, etc.), but also trips and excursions from the family income within a short period of time (September to October). According to an investigation by the Chamber of Labor , an average of around 855 euros per school child is incurred during this time. On average, parents in Austria spend around 200 euros on the initial equipment for a child in the first grade of elementary school, with a range between 90 and around 300 euros.

In 2019, Volkshilfe Austria alone issued vouchers worth 60,000 euros in the form of LIBRO vouchers to families with school-age children whose income was below the risk of poverty threshold as part of its school start-up initiative . Volkshilfe Vorarlberg also donated thousands of euros in financial support.

financing

Around 55,000 pupils in Austria are entitled to a school starter package. In 2015 there were 33,213 parcels, 2016: 40,994 parcels, 2017: approx. 45,000 parcels, in 2018 exactly 45,057 which were issued.

The school starter package is financed by the European Aid Fund (85%) and the Ministry of Social Affairs (15%) and distributed by the Red Cross (WCC). Between 2015 and 2018, around 164,000 school starter packages were distributed. A school starter package is worth around 70 euros.

The Austrian Red Cross receives 10% of the total costs for the school packages as funding for the distribution of the school starter packages until 2017. From 2018 it will be 15%.

Application and delivery

The procedure for receiving the school start package is divided into four basic steps.

  1. Application with details of the desired package,
  2. Approval by the responsible state government,
  3. go personally to the Red Cross with the application form and a photo ID, where a pick-up slip will be issued,
  4. Go personally to the responsible Red Cross office with the collection slip and photo ID and pick up the school starter package.

You can choose from nine packages (2019, from 2016 to 2018 there were 11 to choose from) that have different contents. An individual compilation, as with the Volkshilfe school start campaign, is not possible. Applicants must appear in person and collect the package.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Marcel Fink: Ex ante evaluation of the Austrian OPERATIONAL PROGRAM 2014 2020 for the implementation of the European Aid Fund , 25 August 2014, Institute for Higher Studies , p. 17.
  2. ↑ See Regulation (EU) No. 223/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of March 11, 2014 on the Fund for European Aid to the Most Deprived , Article 2 Paragraph 1.
  3. ↑ In charge of the development ("invention") of the school launch campaign from 2008 was President Annegret Senn of Volkshilfe in Vorarlberg .
  4. ↑ Karin Fischer: School things: Big price difference. In: help.orf.at. August 27, 2016.
  5. ↑ Schulstartaktion 2019 , website of Volkshilfe Österreich, as of July 30, 2019, last accessed on December 28, 2019.
  6. ↑ FEAD ANNUAL IMPLEMENTATION REPORT - OP I (2015).
  7. ↑ School starter packages , website of the Austrian Red Cross.
  8. ↑ FEAD ANNUAL IMPLEMENTATION REPORT - OP I (2016).
  9. ↑ FEAD ANNUAL IMPLEMENTATION REPORT - OP I (2017).
  10. ↑ Approx. 45,000 according to FEAD ANNUAL IMPLEMENTATION REPORT - OP I (2018).
  11. ↑ a b Demand continues to rise: Distribution of school starter packages starts again , APA-OTS broadcast by the Ministry of Social Affairs on July 24, 2019.
  12. ^ Run on school starter packages , ORF.at (Vienna) from August 13, 2018.
  13. ↑ 163,000 according to the distribution of school starter kits restarted , website of the Ministry of Social Affairs of July 24, 2019.
  14. ↑ School starter package for socially disadvantaged families , ORF.at (Burgenland).
  15. ↑ Hartinger-Klein: School Start Package 2018 is more successful than ever . APA-OTS broadcast by the Ministry of Social Affairs on October 12, 2018.
  16. ↑ In the meantime, the organization has been optimized and the school starter package can also be picked up directly through advance deliveries to local Red Cross offices.
  17. ↑ Ministry of Social Affairs and Red Cross distribute school starter packages , APA-OTS broadcast of the Ministry of Social Affairs from July 19, 2017.
  18. ^ Rush to school starter packages , Ö3 orf.at of August 13, 2018.
  19. ↑ Information sheet School Start Package 2019 .