In the district of Darmstadt-Dieburg, school space is becoming scarce, especially for elementary school students.

That's why the circle is now changing direction.

He wants to move away from the renovation and towards new buildings and extensions to the existing schools.

The district will have to spend around 366 million euros on this over the next five years, and a further 350 million euros are planned from 2027 onwards.

Then the redevelopment will continue and further new buildings will be planned.

"In some areas, the number of students is exploding," says the first district councilor and school head Lutz Köhler (CDU).

The reason for this is the new development areas in several municipalities in the district in recent years, to which many young families have moved.

Some already had offspring, others got them in their new homes.

These children are now crowding into elementary schools, which is becoming quite cramped.

This is also due to the fact that the increasing number of students is accompanied by new teaching methods.

According to state regulations, only 23 children are allowed in each primary school class, there are inclusive classes that require more rooms and more staff, and new learning methods in smaller groups, which means more space is required.

In addition, there is the afternoon care, which in turn requires canteens to care for the children.

Using the example of Roßdorf-Gundernhausen, Köhler explains the development that also exists in other municipalities.

The primary school there used to have almost 100 pupils, and this number has doubled within a few years.

The politicians in the district have a very good overview of the development of the number of pupils in the next few years, because there has been a separate school monitoring system for some time.

As soon as a new development area is planned, the statistics calculate how many children will come to school in the next few years, making it possible to plan ahead.

Lego bricks as a model

For a number of years, building has also been done in a modular way.

This saves time and money, because the modules only have to be planned once and are put together like Lego bricks when needed.

Extensions to existing schools could be realized within just six months, reports Holger Gehbauer, head of the Da-Di-Werk, a district company that is also responsible for the schools.

Eleven new modules are currently being advertised, four of which will be called up at short notice.

The modules are pre-fabricated by a company.

Once the necessary earthworks have been completed, they will be erected within a few days.

That is significantly cheaper than planning again and again and then building brick by brick.

Modules are currently being developed for a three-part primary school building for the first time.

Approximately 40,000 square meters of additional school space will be required for the current 32,000 pupils in the next few years, primarily in primary schools.

In the secondary schools, the number of pupils is distributed within the district and also in the direction of Darmstadt, although there, too, school space is becoming scarce.

Rooms needed for 3000 girls and boys

In the next year, up to 3,000 girls and boys in the Darmstadt-Dieburg district will not have the necessary space, which is why immediate action will be taken, emphasizes Head of Department Lutz Köhler.

Time is pressing, because "the children have already been born".

In addition to the current projects, the digitization of the schools should also be completed by the end of 2022.

In addition, all new school buildings are planned with ventilation units.

Photovoltaics provide energy, the school modules are particularly well insulated and have heat recovery.

Smartboards and tablets are also now largely standard in schools in the district.

While the modular construction that has been practiced since 2011 has so far only been managed by one project manager in the administration, Köhler sees additional staffing needs in the school system of the district administration for the next few years.

All this costs money, which has to be returned to the district coffers via the school levy.

But first, the district must step up, because the school levy for school renovations and new buildings will only be charged when they are finished, says Köhler.

The municipalities would then be charged interest and the costs of depreciation via the corresponding levy.

"Our topic is growth," says Köhler.

The school head also points out other new development areas, such as those planned in Weiterstadt, Griesheim and Babenhausen on the former military site.