Children with disabilities – City of Vienna creates additional school places

There are approximately 5,500 children with special educational needs in the Viennese school system. The problem: Your college career ends after 10th grade. If you want another two years, you have to submit an application, which is rejected in most cases due to a lack of capacity. This has presented challenges for some families. Whether it was because the parents wanted their child to continue to go to school or because they could not find a place in a workshop.

First steps taken
The city is now taking the first steps and creating the preconditions so that at least 100 applications can be honored this year in addition to the existing applications. The city is allocating 3.6 million euros for this. The money goes to buildings and personnel. Of course these 100 children need a lot more staff. A class now consists of five children.

313 applications submitted so far
“So far, 313 applications have been received for the coming school year, all of which we can approve,” says education director Heinrich Himmer (SPÖ). But a few more may follow by the summer. “We are only at the beginning of a tour de force. In Vienna, the number of severely disabled children has tripled,’ says deputy mayor and councilor for education Christoph Wiederkehr (Neos). He can explain this by moving here and making more accurate diagnoses.

But the lack of staff also remains a problem. For these 100 extra places, 20 classes are needed, because a small class consists of only five children. And more permanent positions for teachers does not mean that they can also be filled.