Elisabeth-Gymnasium Mannheim closure, Digi Mart USA News (Mannheim, Germany): The Elisabeth-Gymnasium in Mannheim was unable to form a fifth grade for the second time in a row because too few students registered. After 163 years, the school faces the prospect of closing.
The school, located on the edge of Mannheim’s city center, has specialized in targeted language support for students. It is the only gymnasium in Baden-Württemberg participating in the federal and state Startchancenprogramm.
However, only 74 children and young people now attend the traditional school, which was founded in 1863 specifically for girls.
After no fifth grade could be formed for the second consecutive year due to missing registrations, the Karlsruhe Regional Council initiated a so-called notice procedure. If the city of Mannheim, as the school sponsor, does not present convincing counterarguments for why keeping the gymnasium serves the public interest, the school must inevitably be closed.
The city told SWR it currently sees no prospects of preventing this.
All students currently enrolled can still complete their diploma at the Elisabeth-Gymnasium, as required by law. The open question is whether they will choose to stay.
According to the city, students have transferred schools in the past, and it expects that departures will increase significantly now.
Asked by SWR about the reasons for the decline in enrollment at this gymnasium specifically, the Karlsruhe Regional Council and the city of Mannheim declined to comment in detail. The Regional Council noted that the city center has five general gymnasiums, and parents can decide for themselves where to send their children.
Principal Manuela Weiss-Schröder, along with teachers and students, cited several possible causes. In conversation with SWR, the principal pointed primarily to the reintroduction of the binding elementary school recommendation, which she said significantly reduced registrations.
Previously, the school had also admitted many students who had not received a gymnasium recommendation. Because about 83 percent of students have a migration background and learning assessments in fifth grade showed a particular need for support, the school was admitted as the only gymnasium in Baden-Württemberg to the Startchancenprogramm.
For two years it has offered mandatory language support in all subjects, from which the children have benefited greatly.
Only twelve students now remain in eighth grade. They appreciate the small class sizes and believe their school is being talked down.
English teacher Daniel Bosmann, who has been at the school since 2009, said he has no real explanation for the loss of students and suggested it might be a kind of domino effect.
Where no one goes, eventually no one goes, because no one goes.
Bosmann said the looming closure is a burden for the faculty and students, but they must and will handle it professionally.
Parents are also worried about the school’s future and their children. Frank Rüder, chairman of the gymnasium’s support association, said some city-center gymnasiums are overcrowded while others are not an option for families because of Latin requirements.
He said the association will meet with the school leadership and teachers in the second half of the year to discuss options. No decision has been made yet.
The original report also notes that the Schulträgerausschuss of the Mainz-Bingen district had decided in March to build a new gymnasium and an integrated comprehensive school, a decision now reversed.
