BFederal Education Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger (FDP) has announced that the energy price lump sum for students will soon be paid out and that an information campaign and a hotline will be launched next week. “I know that young people are waiting for the money. We’re not far from the goal now,” Stark-Watzinger told the Düsseldorf Rheinische Post on Saturday. She pointed out that many questions still had to be clarified, such as data protection.
“There has never been a payment to around 3.5 million people in 16 federal states at more than 4,000 different training centers,” said Stark-Watzinger. “The federal government has no access to student data held by the universities. That’s why it doesn’t work without the countries.”
The law has been in force since December 21st. “It stipulates that the federal states are responsible for implementation,” explained Stark-Watzinger. “They wanted to go the route of a joint digital application platform, which we have taken over the construction and operation of together with Saxony-Anhalt.” Such a platform cannot be implemented “overnight”, “but it is now largely in place”.
Information campaign will start in the coming days
“Next week we will start the information campaign for all eligible applicants. There will be a website and a hotline so that all questions can be answered,” said the Minister of Education. “So we’re really on the home straight.”
However, there are still some challenges: “The federal states must now clear the final legal hurdles and, together with their training institutions, provide the data of those eligible to apply for the platform. Then it can go.”
Stark-Watzinger now sees the foundations laid for similar processes in the future. “With the platform, we have created a new digital instrument that can also serve as a template in other cases in the future to pay out money directly to citizens. In this respect, it was pioneering work,” said the minister.