Cantonal Council ZG Canton of Zug must examine a vocational baccalaureate for 3rd secondary school students

Talented students in the canton of Zug should be able to start vocational baccalaureate lessons even before their apprenticeship. On Thursday, the Zug parliament narrowly approved a centrist postulate by 34 votes to 32.

The "BM Sek+" is aimed at talented students who are not aiming for a baccalaureate. High-achieving students can complete the first year of the vocational baccalaureate in the third year of secondary school. They attend BM lessons at the vocational school one day a week and attend lessons at the secondary school on the remaining days of the week.

The government was against the request of the Center Group. It justified this by arguing that the introduction of "BM Sek+" would compete with other educational opportunities. As an example, the government cited compulsory elective subjects, which would no longer be possible due to a lack of pupils.

The government also wants to wait and see how enrolment figures or the success rates of "BM Sek+" develop in Lucerne. The project has been running in the neighboring canton since the 2021/2022 school year.

Don't wait and see

Anna Bieri (center) was dissatisfied with the response from the cantonal government. Nothing would be gained by waiting, she said. The "BM Sek+" is a good offer for motivated upper secondary school pupils, she said. The FDP argued similarly. Peter Letter stated that a "BM Sek+" was attractive and sensible. The Green Liberals were also in favor of the proposal.

There was opposition from the SVP, the SP and the Alternative Greens (ALG) for various reasons. Hans Jörg Villiger (SVP) said that the offer was not conducive to orderly secondary school lessons.

Vroni Staub (CSP) argued that the project was "untimely" and that schools should not be kept busy with other projects. Christian Hegglin (SP) said that the project would be "difficult to implement" and "very expensive" if the canton wanted to implement it on its own.

Education Director Stephan Schleiss (SVP) stated before the vote that he was "very skeptical" if the canton of Zug intended to implement the introduction of a "BM Sek+" on its own. He wanted to seek talks with the canton of Lucerne if the postulate was approved.

And so it was. In the end, the proponents of a "BM Sek+" narrowly prevailed by 34 votes to 32.

SDA