The public petition (no. 1879) will be discussed in the chamber. The members of the petitions committee validated the 4,654 signatures, which exceed the threshold of 4,500 for a public debate, on Wednesday 28 July. The petition opposes a proposed reform of the training of teachers. The public debate will take place in the autumn.

The petition was put online at the beginning of June and within a few hours it had gathered more than 4,150 signatures, proof of the public’s interest in the subject. As a reminder, on 11 May education minister  (DP) announced a draft reform of teacher training that would allow secondary school graduates with a diploma in social sciences to complete teacher training in only one year instead of three, which is what the petition, along with the OGBL, criticises.

Faced with the immediate success of the petition, Claude Meisch already reacted in June, commenting that the country had “a problem” with the growing need for educators. “We must at least dare to set up a pilot project to see if it is possible to combine the training of the social sciences section with that of a teacher,” he said to the chamber following a question from deputy (LSAP).

No debate on petition 1878

Petition 1878, calling for public financial support for parents who look after their children at home, narrowly missed the threshold for a public debate. MEPs validated 4,419 signatures. More were gathered, but during checks the committee found that 428 of them were duplicates.

As a reminder, if a public petition collects more than 4,500 signatures in 42 days on petitiounen.lu, the petitioners can discuss their case with the members of the parliamentary committees concerned as well as with the competent government representative(s). Such a public debate is broadcast live on chd.lu and on ChamberTV. So far, 44 public debates have been held on petitions since the introduction of this participatory tool in spring 2014.

This article in Paperjam. It has been translated and edited for Delano.