‘Children of unemployed entitled to free textbooks’

BERLIN: Germany’s states must pay for school books for children of the long-time unemployed, a court ruled on Wednesday, upholding a complaint by two families.

The Federal Social Affairs Court in the central city of Kassel ordered the state of Lower Saxony to reimburse the families for the pupils’ textbooks, costing 135 euros and 200 euros respectively.

Unemployment benefits vary widely among Germany’s 16 states. School text books are already free in some regions, partly subsidised in others and the sole financial responsibility of parents in the remaining states.

The court found that the aid in Lower Saxony, where parents currently receive only minimal assistance to buy school books, "was too low for a state in which pupils must pay for their own school supplies".

Around 5.9 million people in Germany receive subsistence-level benefits for the long-term unemployed. The country’s jobless rate in April held steady at the lowest rate since reunification in 1990 with 4.9 percent of people out of work.