Education Number of schoolchildren in Biel slightly down

In the city of Biel, 6211 pupils will start the new school year on Monday. Following the sharp increase in recent years, this number has stabilized, as the city has announced.

Compared to 2011, the number of pupils starting the new school year is still 1006 higher, as the city announced in a press release on Thursday. However, it is slightly down on the previous year - 6240 schoolchildren started the new school year in 2023.

This includes all children in kindergarten, elementary school, secondary schools and special classes. 2796 children are French-speaking, 3415 German-speaking.

The school space will be adapted

The city of Biel also announced that children will increasingly find differently furnished classrooms "that support different forms of teaching and correspond to contemporary pedagogy". The days of traditional rows of desks, blackboards and desks lined up next to each other are over.

According to the city, it uses the opportunities that arise during renovations or selective conversions to adapt the school premises to educational developments.

One example of this is the new school building on Champagne, it continued. For today's teaching methods, rooms are needed in which groups can be formed and modulated. This aspect will also be taken into account in renovations such as the refurbishment of the Geysried school building.

In future, outdoor spaces, such as so-called "garden rooms", will also form part of the school space. These are areas protected by large awnings and can be used by the children for group or individual work.