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Education & Participation

The various services for education and participation support children and young people and young adults from families who have little money. With these services, your child can take advantage of school and leisure activities if you would otherwise not be able to afford the costs.

Which offers are supported?

With the benefits for education and participation, your child will have better opportunities to develop personally and participate in social life. For this reason, many different cultural and educational offers are promoted. The benefits from education and participation include:

one-day school and kite excursions (actual costs),
multi-day class and day care trips (actual costs),
Personal school needs (a total of 150 euros per school year),
the transport of pupils to school (actual costs – even if the pupil tickets for local public transport entitle them to general non-school journeys),
Support for learning (actual costs – tutoring can also be used in the future if the transfer is not directly endangered),
participation in communal lunches at school or day-care centres (actual cost),
Participation in social and cultural life in the community (such as in sports clubs or music schools at a rate of 15 euros per month).

Many cities or municipalities also offer vouchers or special discounts.

Ask your city or municipality for more information. You can find an overview of where you can find information on the services of the so-called education and participation package at the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs.

The costs for kindergarten and school trips will be covered for all expenses that the kindergarten or school charges you for – but not, for example, the pocket money for additional expenses during the trip.

If your child goes to school, you will receive an allowance of 150 euros per school year for your child’s school needs. With the allowance, you can buy your child appropriate equipment for school, such as satchels, sports equipment, pens, fountain pens, exercise books, calculators or handicraft materials. If you have several children, you will receive the subsidy once per school year for each child.

The subsidy is paid in two parts: on 1 August, at the beginning of the school year, you receive 100 euros and on 1 February, when the second half of the year begins, another 50 euros.

If your child needs to travel to school by train, bus or other public transport, you may be eligible for a travel allowance. The only condition is that the costs are not covered by your city or municipality or by another public body. The costs will be covered in full, even if your child can use this monthly pass privately.

If your child has problems at school, he or she can also receive learning support (e.g. tutoring). The child does not have to be at immediate risk of transfer to receive learning support.

Please talk to your child’s teacher first. She or he knows your child’s school performance well and can assess whether he or she needs special support. In the second step, the teacher must certify the need for support.

If your school does not have sufficient learning support, you can also use learning support outside the school. However, it must be suitable for your child to achieve the learning goal.

The entire expenses of the child for the communal lunch in the school, Kita and child day care are taken over. The previous contribution of 1 Euro per meal is no longer required.

It is sufficient that a certain activity is actually perceived (simple proof). In these cases, it is “generally” assumed that costs will be incurred and a lump sum of 15 euros per month will be granted. You can use this amount, for example, for:

Baby swimming or baby massage,
Music lessons,
membership of a sports club or cultural association
Museum visits (only within the framework of cultural education, not for individual leisure activities)
other collaborative activities of cultural education, or
Holiday offers.

You can get this amount until your child turns 18.

All children in your household can get education and participation benefits if you or your child receive one of the following state benefits:

Child supplement,
Unemployment benefit II (colloquially also referred to as “Hartz IV”),
Social money,
Social assistance: help for subsistence, basic provision for old age and reduced earning capacity,
Housing benefit or
Asylum seeker benefits.

The needs for education are met by pupils up to the age of 25 if they attend a general or vocational school and receive no training allowance. All children and young people up to the age of 18 in need of help receive benefits for participation in social and cultural life in the community.

You can find out more about these requirements in the individual services.

The benefits for education and participation must be applied for. Where you can apply depends on what benefits you or your child receive:

If you receive unemployment benefit II, you can apply to your job centre.
In all other cases, please submit the application to your city, municipality or county. You will find your contact person on the website of the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs.
Application forms can be obtained locally from your contact person or from the website of the relevant contact point to which you are applying for benefits.