(cont.) Response to interpellation 2023/24:593 on state grants for adapted education within komvux
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
The debate concerns state grants for adapted education within komvux. L notes that the compensation has not been increased for many years and that the previous Social Democratic government did not take any measures during its eight years in power 1. L follows the issue closely and has an investigation that looks at the whole 1 2. S admits that nothing was done previously and that the target group is not a strong lobby group 3. S wants people with disabilities to be able to study under fair conditions to reach their full potential 3. S also wants to discuss the role of the folk high school and opportunities for higher education for this target group 4.
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! I thank Caroline Helmersson Olsson for her interpellation and contribution.
This is an issue that has been relevant for many years. Just as the member described, this is a compensation that has not been increased for many years. It is also an issue that has been raised at various times in the debate. I also note that the previous Social Democratic government did not take any measures during the eight years it was in power. I regret that.
The government is following the issue closely, and we have an investigation that has looked at the overall picture linked to vocational adult education and adult education.
Caroline Helmersson Olsson (S)
Madam Speaker! I thank the Minister for the speech. I understood, of course, that the Minister would say that we did nothing for eight years, and I have truly wondered why we did not do so. The main reason is probably that inflation has not been so high previously and that it has not been as relevant as it is right now. That is one thing.
I actually feel a bit guilty. I have sat on the Education Committee since Björklund's time, and it has been a long time. Only a couple of years ago did I find out that this grant even exists. At that time, it was some students from a vocational course at Viadidakt - a joint board for Katrineholm and Vingåker municipalities - who were visiting me. They asked why they do not get paid for the entire time they study, and I had no answer to that. Since then, I have dug into the issue.
This is not a strong lobby group in society. These people do not stand on the barricades, rather the opposite. They do not even want to show themselves in this way, but they want to be like everyone else. This requires us politicians to actually do something. This we simply have not lived up to.
I do not know if the Minister has met those who are studying with this grant. But those I have met have very clear goals with their education, namely to get a job, be able to support themselves and become a free human being. They want to contribute and work to one hundred percent of their ability.
Who could this person be? It could be a person that the municipality has not found, an adult staying at home. It could be a person who does not want to go to an LSS caseworker and say: I have IF, can you investigate if I can get some kind of grant from the social insurance so that I can study? It could also be a person who has checked with CSN and discovers that one cannot get either a grant or a loan if one has adapted komvux. It could also be a person who has gone to Arbetsförmedlingen and discovered that their school cooperation does not apply to adapted komvux.
These individuals are aware of the opportunities. And I would say that these individuals perhaps even stand closer to the labor market than what is reflected by society's knowledge and expectations of the target group.
Even though the path to a job is extra long for persons with IF, the benefit is also that they can study under fair conditions and that they can get better opportunities to participate in society. The Education Act stipulates that the overall goals of adult education should also be able to promote personal development or that these persons should be able to reach their full potential, as the minister so nicely said in his previous contribution.
I know that I am persistent. In the response I received from the Minister for Education to my written question, he answered approximately the same thing as in the response to the interpellation – that he will follow the issue closely. During a question period, I also asked the minister a question about this grant. Then he said that he would follow the question very closely.
In the written response I received, the minister wrote that if necessary, there may be grounds to take further measures for this reason. Does the minister consider that there is a need now?
Utbildningsministern Mats Persson (L)
Madam Speaker! I want to start by thanking Caroline Helmersson Olsson for her answer. I think it was very liberating to listen to a politician who was quite honest about why nothing has been done. There were no excuses and no justifications. She did not blame anyone else but stated what I also believe, namely that when it concerns the groups that are not the strongest voices in the debate, these types of issues tend to fall into oblivion.
That is also why we will now look at this issue together with a number of other different issues where this investigation forms the basis. We will look at the whole. How would any changes in the system affect, how does it affect the system as a whole and how does it affect individual individuals if one makes different types of changes? This we will do in a collective order, and I will certainly have the opportunity and reason to return to the member regarding this.
But I thank you for your sincerity and for your sincere description of the issue.
TREDJE VICE TALMANNEN
I also want to remind the members in this debate that all speak through the Speaker and in other words do not use the word you or first names. This is a general reminder to everyone. No further comments are necessary.
(Minister for Education MATS PERSSON (L): I believe I was so inspired by the member's contribution that I therefore forgot this.)
Caroline Helmersson Olsson (S)
Madam Speaker! During my final minutes, I would like to thank the Minister for Education for appearing to open up to further discussing the issue. I look forward to that.
I also want to highlight the role of the folk high school in all of this. The folk high school is very good at providing education to this target group. My interpellation today is about adapted komvux, but I look forward to continuing to discuss the folk high school's possibilities to organize education but also the possibilities for students to attend there in the future.
I could also actually imagine discussing the possibilities for higher education for this target group. It exists in other countries. Previously, the Education Committee has been very much in agreement that we should look further into this issue. Some attempts have also been made at the university in Gävle and at the YH-education in Bollnäs, I believe that was it. After the debate, I will hand over a report to the Minister for Education so that he can see if this would not be a good topic for discussion after all.
I think it is quite cool to have a Minister for Education who is also a Minister for Space. But if we land here on Earth, the Minister is in the highest degree responsible for these more down-to-earth issues that I am raising today. And I place my hope on the Minister engaging and making this change in the regulation, even if he does not tell me, and following the development very closely.
Utbildningsministern Mats Persson (L)
Madam Speaker! I thank Caroline Helmersson Olsson for this debate. It is very rewarding and uplifting to debate with a politician who is honest and sincere about why things are the way they are. I look forward to working further on this issue together with the member to see if we can jointly find a solution.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.