Response to interpellation 2023/24:71 on the goal of the student support system
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
L proposes that the current goals for student support be merged into a new goal to clarify that the support should be recruiting for everyone regardless of background 1. L considers that today's system works well and that the fulfillment of the goal regarding equalizing effect remains high 1. S considers that the government and SD propose that one should change fundamental goals that have been agreed upon for over 20 years 2. S argues that it is remarkable that the government proposes that one should scrap the goal of contributing to increased social justice 2.
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! Niklas Sigvardsson has asked me why I and the government choose to remove the goal that the student grant should be equalizing. Niklas Sigvardsson has also asked me whether I consider that the Swedish education system and, thereby, the Swedish student support system have already achieved the goal of being equalizing and, if not, what measures I intend to take to achieve the goal. Niklas Sigvardsson has finally asked me whether I and the government consider that the Swedish student support should work for social justice and why the wording about social justice in that case has been deleted.
The Government has, in the budget bill for 2024, submitted proposals for a new goal for student financial aid. The overall goals for student financial aid have existed for over 20 years, and since then, changes have been made to the system. Some types of support have disappeared while others have been introduced. There is therefore a need for the goals for the expenditure area to be clarified.
There is a close and clear connection between today's recruiting and leveling goals. Both goals aim for student support to contribute to people who would otherwise not have started studies doing so. The recruiting goal is, however, of a more general nature, that is to say, the student support should be designed in such a way that it recruits broader groups to studies. The leveling goal has, on the other hand, been defined as that the student support shall be selectively recruiting, that is to say, it should be designed in such a way that it in certain cases specifically targets recruiting specific groups to studies.
To clarify that the recruiting goal shall apply equally to everyone, the Government proposes in the budget bill for 2024 that today's recruiting and balancing goals be merged into a new goal, which shall be that the student support shall act as recruiting for women and men regardless of background and contribute to a high participation in education. The student support shall therefore act as recruiting for everyone regardless of background, that is to say both young and old, unemployed and employed, as well as regardless of educational background, gender, and origin. That the support shall act as recruiting for everyone regardless of background obviously also means that it shall act as recruiting regardless of social background.
Today's student support system works well, and that is why it is appropriate that the main features of the system remain fixed. Through the new goal, the reporting of the expenditure area's results will also become clearer for the Riksdag. Otherwise, the goals for student support should therefore apply as they do today.
In the budget bill for 2024, the government presents an assessment of the achievement of objectives. Overall, the results from the indicators presented there indicate that the achievement of objectives regarding the equalizing effect of student support is at an unchanged level and is therefore continued to be high. The government's summary assessment of the achievement of objectives within the expenditure area is that student support contributes to a high participation in education and that it is an important and well-functioning part of education policy.
Niklas Sigvardsson (S)
Madam President of the Ageing Committee! "The goals for the expenditure area are that the student grant shall act as a recruiting tool for both women and men and thereby contribute to a high participation in education. It shall further level differences between individuals and groups in the population and in doing so contribute to increased social justice. The student grant shall also have a good effect on the economy of society over time. The student grant in the form of grants and loans is a part of the education policy."
So is the goal for the Swedish student support system that we in the Riksdag have agreed upon for over 20 years, just as the minister said earlier.
The reason for this debate is that the government and the Sweden Democrats, in their budget, propose that changes should be made to the fundamental goals for the entire Swedish student support system. It is surprising that the government proposes that we should do this without having even breathed a word about the proposal before the budget was presented and laid on the table of the Riksdag, even though we have been in agreement for over 20 years.
A goal that the government itself has in its budget bill and which the minister read out here was described as that "the fulfillment of the goal regarding the equalizing effect of student support is at an unchanged level and is therefore still high." In that case, it is actually a bit remarkable that the government and a liberal Minister for Education are presenting proposals to scrap a goal of contributing to increased social justice.
What is it that the government and Education Minister Mats Persson are proposing? Well, it is to delete one of the four sentences I have just read out, namely: "It shall furthermore level differences between individuals and groups in the population and thereby contribute to increased social justice."
For some, it may certainly sound trivial that we are debating a change of a few individual words. But these are some of the most important words in the entire Swedish student support system, something that I have heard politicians from different political sides in this chamber say they are proud of, and which contributes to a unique system built to enable studies for as many as possible in this country, regardless of whether one was raised in the university town of Lund or in the industrial town of Burseryd. It is about the fact that we as a country shall continue to place value on education being for everyone and not just for a few.
Mats Persson describes in his speech that it is not such a big change and that it basically means the same thing. But the change of the goal must still mean something, because otherwise, the government and the Sverigedemokraterna should not have wanted to change anything. What is it that perhaps will be removed in the future? What is it that grates about the words regarding leveling differences and contributing to social justice?
I do not think that Mats Persson has answered the latter, and therefore I ask Mats Persson once again to answer the question: Why does the government believe that the Swedish student support should not work for social justice in the future?
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.