The case in summary: Minister of Justice Emilie Enger Mehl is strongly critical of the plans to close down two upper secondary schools and four schools in the interior. Mehl accuses county mayor Thomas Breen of “prostituting himself” in order to gain power together with the Conservative Party, which Breen denies. Breen believes that the closures are necessary to ensure the reasonable operation of the schools in the interior, and points out that the number of pupils has decreased since 2013. Mehl believes that the closures are contrary to the government’s profile and investment, and points out that she herself has attended one of the schools that are proposed to be closed. Torberg Falch, professor at the Department of Economics at NTNU, believes that the closures are necessary because of the state transfers to the counties and the declining number of students. An alternative to closures could be to cut the most expensive subjects, but Falch believes that the students will benefit from a larger school environment. The summary is made by an AI service from OpenAI. The content is quality assured by news’s journalists before publication. – I think it’s absolutely horrible. I’m almost at a loss for words. I feel that it is in direct contradiction to everything the Center Party is working for in government together with the Labor Party. Minister of Justice, Emilie Enger Mehl (Sp) spares neither words nor volleys of force when news interviews her about school structure and school closures in the interior. The majority in Innlandet County Council, the Labor Party, the Conservative Party and MDG, are in favor of closing down two upper secondary schools and four schools. Skarnes and Dokka high schools Dombås and Lom at Nord-Gudbrandsdal high school and Flisa and Sønsterud at Solør high school. The matter will finally be adopted in the county council on 23 October. This is the recommendation from the county administration This was the proposal from the county administration. Ap, MDG and H have made small adjustments. Thinks county mayor wants to prostitute himself The county mayor from Labor has entered into a collaboration with MDG and Høyre i Innlandet. Emilie Enger Mehl also comes with harsh criticism of this collaboration. – That the Labor Party’s county mayor Thomas Breen wants to prostitute himself in order to gain power together with the Conservative Party in this way, I think that is crazy. And I just desperately hope that they turn around before this decision is made in the county council. County mayor Thomas Breen (Ap), Johannes Wahl Gran (MDG) and Hanne Alstrup Velure (H) represent the majority coalition in Innlandet County Council. But the school policy they front creates stiff opposition. Photo: Frode Meskau / news The county mayor denies that he does this. – But unlike Mehl, I try to take the responsibility I have been given, and that is to manage the school in Innlandet in a sensible way. Here, the Center Party has primarily spent the last four months both denying the facts and attacking the experts’ reports. I think that’s a bit sad. He adds that this creates a debate that is not informed or sensible. Emilie Mehl goes on to say to news that she is directly upset and that it is dramatic. She points out that she herself attended Flisa, one of the study centers that has been proposed to be closed, and still has siblings who go there and will go there. She believes the school is a cornerstone for the entire local community. – That you are unable to see the cost of closing the upper secondary school at Flisa, in Lom, at Dokka, I find that incomprehensible. I don’t feel that they have included that in the calculation at all. According to the county mayor, Thomas Breen (Ap), several thousand applicants to upper secondary education will be lost in the future, because the birth rate is falling. Photo: Knut Røsrud / news – I think perhaps that the Minister of Justice should first and foremost be the Minister of Justice, and not a school policy spokesperson for his own local school Flisa. As far as I have registered, the terrorist threat level in Norway has been raised from moderate to high, so you would think she had enough to deal with in her role as Minister of Justice, replies county mayor Thomas Breen (Ap). He understands that this creates feelings in many people. He says what they want to do is not an easy solution. – But at the same time, we have a responsibility to run the school with regard to what society actually needs. There we now see that a great many offers for the fields of study we need were not initiated because we have too few applicants. The reason for this is that we spread the offer too thinly, and there will be too few applicants per study centre, says Breen. The graph shows the figures that the county administration relates to in the case: In conflict with the government Mehl points out why the closures are in conflict with the government’s profile and commitment. – We want development in the districts. We want to fight alienation, prevent crime. And now they take high schools from many parts of our region. I don’t understand how they have arrived at that. But Breen believes that they must take action in the interior now because they have lost 3,500 pupils since 2013 and see the birth rate going down, so that they expect even fewer pupils in the future. In the last 20 years, structural changes have been made in primary schools. – Now it is upper secondary education that must take some measures to ensure quality and predictability for both students, employees and business. We do this by strengthening the offers in each individual region, even if we reduce the number of school sites, says Breen. Hundreds of protesters turned up in torchlight processions to preserve Dokka High School on Monday evening. The school is one of six upper secondary schools that have been proposed to be closed in Innlandet. In Nordre Land municipality, several say that they will continue to fight for their school. Photo: Stine Bækkelien / news Debate in several places Torberg Falch is a professor at the Department of Social Economics at NTNU in Trondheim and has researched quality and dropouts in upper secondary education. He says the debate that is now taking place in Innlandet is also going on in several places, and the challenge is student numbers. With the state transfers the counties receive, he believes the politicians have no choice. – The state transfer system to the counties is such that changes must be made when there are fewer pupils. Small schools are more expensive to run, and then you have to make changes when the number of pupils falls. In Innlandet, the number of students has decreased for some time. It is expected that it will continue to decrease, says Falch. Researcher Torberg Falch points out that it has been proposed, from the State, that something must be done with the school structure in the counties, because they are required to save money. Photo: Marthe Svendsen / news Another option for politicians to save money is possibly to cut the most expensive subjects, such as music, sports and some vocational subjects. Something that was discussed in Trøndelag a year ago. – Then the director put forward something that was also a response to spending less money. It was then proposed to do something with the line structure. It was shot down by the politicians, so they had to stop it. So they haven’t solved the financial mess. Although it is a disadvantage for a local community that the school disappears, he does not think it is a disadvantage for the students. However, they will benefit from a larger school environment, the researcher believes. Published 15.10.2024, at 12.55 Updated 15.10.2024, at 13.23
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Emilie Mehl is upset about proposed school closures in Innlandet – news Innlandet – Local news, TV and radio
