Facts
The appellant S. is employed by the Federal Administration. For his son, born in 1989, who completed his Matura (high school diploma) on June 19, 2009 and subsequently attended the recruit school, he received a training allowance until and including August 2009. On October 24, 2009, he applied for training allowances for his son, who completed an internship from March 8, 2010 to March 31, 2011, in order to then begin an apprenticeship as an animal keeper.
The Federal Compensation Office (EAK) granted S. a training allowance for his son from March 1, 2010 onwards in a decision dated November 12, 2010, but denied a claim for the period from September 1, 2009 to February 28, 2010. It upheld this in a decision on objection dated January 4, 2011.
The Administrative Court of the Canton of Bern dismissed the appeal filed against this. S. then filed a public law appeal, requesting that training allowances be paid for his son for the period from September 1, 2009 to February 28, 2010.
Considerations
The Federal Supreme Court dismissed the appeal. It stated that after obtaining the Matura, the education is generally not completed, but the Matura represents a first step towards a university education. If, after the Matura, a vocational apprenticeship is taken up instead of a university education, the Matura can only be considered a first step in a continuous education if it has a certain impact within the framework of the further education, for example in the form of a shortened training period or as an alternative admission requirement.
In the present case, however, the apprenticeship of the appellant's son did not differ significantly from a regular…