(cont. from § 12) Response to interpellation 2023/24:36 on cuts in non-formal education
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
1 L considers that the sports movement is important for children and young people and that the study association Sisu should not be given reduced funds 1. 2 L emphasizes that the government is making necessary priorities in a tough economic situation and is increasing the appropriations to the folk high schools 2. 3 L welcomes the broad support for a permanent increase of the appropriation to the folk high schools and considers it a much-needed addition 3. 4 S argues that all study associations play a major role for public health and integration 4. 5 S considers that the reduction of the study associations' funds kills important activities 5. 6 S asserts that adult education contributes to better public health 6. S argues that the state should support adult education to strengthen democracy and level out educational inequalities. 7 S considers that the government does not understand what difference the study associations make and that no cuts should occur at all 7.
Written by AI in advance and may contain errors. The numbers lead to the speech a statement builds on; check against the text below.
Utbildningsministern Mats Persson (L)
Madam Speaker! It is the stronghold of democracy that we find ourselves in. One debate succeeds another, and they run into each other.
For those watching and listening, the debate is about the importance of popular education. The interpellator has asked a very good question, I think, namely how the sports movement will be affected by the reprioritizations and redistributions occurring in the government's budget. Since a follow-up question came from the interpellator and Member of Parliament Wallentheim, I want to be clear that when it comes to the study association Sisu Idrottsutbildarna, it will be specified in the upcoming decisions on regulatory letters for 2024 that no reduction of these funds will be made.
The background is, naturally, that the sports movement in a broad sense plays a decisive and major role and that it is also, given the social development we have right now, very important that children and young people have good access to leisure activities and that there are sports leaders who can be trained by, in this case, the study association Sisu. It plays a very important role, not least considering the appalling social development we have with the growing gang crime and the shootings and explosions that we see right now. Therefore, it feels like a very important priority to ensure that there are plenty of leisure activities for children and young people and that sports leaders, football coaches, handball coaches and gymnastics coaches have the opportunity to participate in different types of training. I really want to emphasize this in my response.
Anna Wallentheim (S)
Madam Speaker! Thank you, Minister for Education, for the answers!
I am grateful that the government and the Minister for Education nevertheless give such a clear answer on how they view sports and the important significance of sports for Sweden, especially in the situation we find ourselves in right now.
However, I do not think the answer turned out entirely as I had hoped. In my question at the end of my previous contribution, I emphasized the question of why a distinction is made between the different study associations, because just as we heard the Minister for Education say, sports and the conditions for sports are important in the current situation. There, I see that all study associations play an incredibly large role.
We all know in here that the study associations and folk education in general contribute to building a strong society that creates meeting places for people to meet, exchange ideas, and build social networks.
Folkbildningen, through both our folk high schools and our study associations, also supports integration and inclusion by offering education, cultural activities, study circles, and so on. It promotes understanding and respect for other cultures and other people, which is an important part of creating a society of diversity where everyone feels welcome and included.
When it comes to the crime prevention work, which is extra interesting for me because I am also a member of the Justice Committee, I want to emphasize that public education also plays an important role here, and so do the study associations. By offering meaningful and developing activities for children and young people and, it should be added, young adults, the study associations reduce the risk of individuals falling into crime. It was primarily against this background that I submitted this interpellation. I wanted to highlight sports' great importance for public health but also for social cohesion.
We also know that education is intended to strengthen the individual's self-esteem and self-confidence. Research also shows that it has great significance for reducing the risk of being involved in criminal activities.
Even though Sisu will now be exempted, which I see as positive, I mean that even the other student unions should be exempted. They also play an important role for public health and for much of the other that has been mentioned.
What is it then that makes the government make a difference between one study association and another? Is it not perhaps more honest of the Minister for Education and the government to admit that it is the Sweden Democrats who once again have had their way when it comes to trying to stifle the Social Democrats' possibilities for existence?
This is something that will hit hard against ABF, that is, Arbetarnas bildningsförbund, whose values coincide with our movement's. There we can develop our members to become leaders, have discussions about politics and be able to take a strong stance in society.
The reduction being made on study associations and this attack will affect ABF but also other study associations. So I thought that it would also be with Sisu. Therefore, I wanted to speak specifically about sports and how important they are. This is, in fact, something that I was responsible for during the last parliamentary term and which is close to my heart.
With the background that the Minister for Education has provided and the reasons why Sisu is now being exempted, I believe that the other student unions should also fall under the same framework.
Once again, I want to ask: What is it that makes the government make a difference between study associations and study associations?
Linus Sköld (S)
Madam Speaker! The Minister says here in the rostrum that it is very important that young people have good access to leisure activities. And Anna Wallentheim very rightly points out the Sweden Democrat agenda to want to abolish ABF. Those who understand what is happening here can see that the Minister is doing the Sweden Democrats' bidding when he cuts a third of the activities in the study associations.
For ABF, it concerns 24,000 activities - study circles, cultural programs, and other folk high school activities - that will not take place if the budget is approved. I will take some examples. It concerns a theater school for children in Lillhärdal in Härjedalen. It concerns Danskompaniet in Östersund and their cooperation with 250 children and young people. It concerns homework help for primary school students in Vårby gård and Flemingsberg. It concerns 60 dance circles together with Fryshuset here in Stockholm. It concerns a mobile cultural workshop, an integration-promoting activity in three residential areas with youths aged 10-15, and so on.
If the minister stands by the statement that it is important, even very important, that young people have good access to leisure activities, he should stop running errands for the Sweden Democrats and abolish the study associations' opportunity to do exactly what he wants to do.
Isak From (S)
Madam Speaker! Mats Persson had the chance, but he did not answer a single question that I asked. I do not think he will do so either, because it is difficult for Mats Persson to actually defend what the government is now implementing.
Let us then refer to Anna Wallentheim's interpellation on public health.
In the 80s, Västerbotten had the highest mortality in the country in cardiovascular diseases. Norsjö, where I come from, had the highest mortality in cardiovascular diseases in Västerbotten.
Society, companies and regions, but above all also the educational associations Vuxenskolan and ABF, which had premises on site, made great efforts to educate the population on eating correctly and exercising and on the importance of dietary variation, and perhaps not eating palt every day even if palt is good.
This has resulted in Västerbotten today having the same results when it comes to cardiovascular diseases as Halland, which in 1980 was the best in the country. It is popular education that has contributed to that. It is popular education that around the country contributes to better public health. It is the same popular education that this government wants to cut at the ankles.
Serkan Köse (S)
Madam Speaker! While the Minister emphasizes the significant state grants to popular education and the role of sports as a bridge-builder for everything from integration to crime prevention measures, there seems to be a dissonance when it comes to the understanding of the interconnection between popular education and the sports movement.
Despite the government's alleged support, news regarding the sports sector was conspicuously absent from the government's budget, which the Swedish Sports Confederation points out in a press release with the headline "Sports initiatives missing in the budget".
The Swedish Sports Confederation has clearly and explicitly pointed out that larger investments are needed to provide space for sports. In fact, a quarter of the sports clubs feel a lack of sports time. Many encounter obstacles regarding time and space.
A clear message from the Swedish Sports Confederation is "without space, no sport". We need innovative, sustainable facilities. The state's role here cannot be overestimated, especially considering the municipalities' strained finances. Nevertheless, we saw that the appropriations to the sports movement were unchanged in the government's budget. This despite the fact that knowledge of growing health disparities and the beneficial impact of physical activity should contribute to youth having greater opportunities for sport.
Madam Speaker! Sport is not just an activity. It creates value, promotes public health, drives inclusion and enriches the leisure time of young people. But it needs resources and support to truly flourish.
In conclusion, I would like to ask the Minister for Education how the government can guarantee that the indirect effects of these budget changes will not undermine the sports movement's extensive role within popular education and community.
Gunilla Svantorp (S)
Madam Speaker! I also note that I have not yet received answers to the questions I have asked.
I wanted to remind [everyone] why the state contributes to popular education. It is to strengthen and develop democracy, to increase diversity and the opportunity for people to influence their life situation, to create engagement for social development at the individual level, to level out educational inequalities, to raise the level of education and training in society, and to broaden the interest in culture and increase participation in cultural life.
This is done in popular education through study circles, through other popular education activities and through cultural programs. It is done in our entire country, in every municipality - very much thanks to ABF, who are the ones who are present in every municipality in our entire country.
I would like to ask the Minister how he believes the objectives of popular education will be achieved moving forward when a third of the money for the study associations disappears and, as we heard Linus Sköld say just now, 24,000 activities are being lost.
Utbildningsministern Mats Persson (L)
Madam Speaker! Thanks to the members for excellent contributions and good questions!
This is very important activity. It is activity that is an important part of Swedish democracy and that gives people opportunities to grow.
That is why the government has put forward a targeted permanent increase of the appropriations to the folk high schools. The folk high schools play an important role in giving more people the opportunity for a second chance but also the opportunity to take courses that can lead to jobs in the future. They are an important part of popular education.
At the same time, the government has made a number of prioritizations, which we also spoke about in the previous debate. We think that education is very important, but in a tough economic situation, we have also had to make some tough prioritizations. This is one such prioritization.
When it comes to sports, the government's ambition, which I presented in my previous contribution, is that the appropriations shall not be affected because there is a clear connection to children's and youth's leisure activities and a clear connection to the situation we have in Sweden with widespread gang crime and widespread unrest and insecurity.
Madam Speaker! Otherwise, one gets the impression that the Social Democrats have a rhetoric that does not quite rhyme with reality.
The 100 million for the folk high schools has been addressed in this debate and previously by the Social Democrats by saying that it is not enough, that it is de facto a cut, and that what we are doing is not investing in the folk high schools.
An hour ago, the Social Democrats presented their shadow budget. How much more money do the Social Democrats invest in the folk high schools than the government? Well, zero kronor more than the government. That is to say, they accept the permanent increase of 100 million, and I welcome that the Social Democrats do so. But they have a very harsh rhetoric about the fact that those funds do not matter and de facto are not any reinforcement. If it is so terrible now, why haven't the Social Democrats added new money to the folk high schools since this is insufficient? That question would be interesting to get an answer to.
I think this shows that when the arguments are not really there, the rhetoric becomes very pointed and very harsh, but when you then look at the actual proposals, you see that there is not much substance there. That is to say that in this issue, there was a lot of rhetoric, but when it comes down to it, the Social Democrats do not commit more than the government does.
Lastly in this exchange, I want to say that this is an important activity. The government is making clear priorities. We are in a tough budget situation where all households across Sweden are pinching every penny. People sit at the dinner table in the evening and discuss which priorities and which sacrifices they need to make in the household economy. In the same way, politics needs to collectively make clear priorities. In this case, the government prioritizes education very highly, and in that, the folk high schools are not least a very important part.
Anna Wallentheim (S)
Madam Speaker! Just as during the question period, the Minister for Education has a tendency to fudge the numbers a bit when it comes to the difference between the government's budget and our budget.
The Minister for Education is also aware that we allocated more money in our previous budget motion and that we are actually rejecting the cuts you are making now. Therefore, there will be a difference in our budgets, and therefore we can have the rhetoric that we have.
Based on the minister's answer, I am actually unsure whether he and the government even know what ABF and the other study associations do to make a difference for Sweden and for the individuals who work here. Since Sisu Idrottsutbildarna are exempted from cuts based on their role in supporting public health, creating social contexts, strengthening integration, and being part of crime prevention work, my request to the minister and the government is to go out into the country and see what our study associations do every day. Popular education is about offering knowledge and opportunities to people regardless of age, background, and previous education, and it is a pity that the government does not see this.
Once again, I want to point out that I am glad that Sisu is exempt from this, because I believe that no cuts whatsoever on sports federations should occur. I know that those in the sports movement were incredibly worried when this reached them. I know that they are also worried about what my colleague mentioned earlier – that no other sports initiatives are taking place.
It is important to take a holistic approach. One cannot say that sports make such a difference in counteracting crime, for integration, for public health and so on, and then not see what the other study associations do. I think that is regrettable.
Utbildningsministern Mats Persson (L)
Madam Speaker! Thanks to Anna Wallentheim and others for the debate! Thanks also for the consensus regarding the importance of Sisu and the activities conducted there and the importance of, not least, the sports movement for our children and youth and all those sports leaders - football coaches, handball coaches, gymnastics coaches or whatever they may be - who all around our country make fantastic contributions every day, give our children and youth something more and something new and challenge them. It is a fantastically important activity. It feels important that there is a strong political legitimacy and anchoring when it comes to this, and I welcome that there is broad support for it.
I also welcome that there is broad support for us now moving forward with a permanent increase of the grant to the folk high schools. It will be a much-needed and important addition to that activity.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.