AfD on education

The AfD wants to tackle the shortage of skilled workers through more vocational training rather than immigration. Training for the Meister (master craftsman) qualification would be free, and the state would support further training for employees. In the long run the party relies on family policy to meet demand from within the country.

Saarland lacks skilled workers. The AfD therefore wants stronger job training. Training to become a master craftsman should be free. The party does not see immigration as the answer. In the long run, more children in the country should fill the gap.

The platform expects technological change to create some occupations and end others, and says the state must support workers in gaining qualifications. It argues that immigration, which it describes as unqualified mass immigration, cannot fix the shortage in skilled trades. Instead, the trend toward university degrees should be reversed in favor of vocational training. Over time, an activating family policy is meant to cover demand from the domestic population.

The AfD wants to split the Gemeinschaftsschule (comprehensive school) into a Realschule and a trades and crafts school. Together with the Gymnasium, this would form a three-tier system. Grades are to reflect performance clearly, and the Abitur is to become more demanding.

The AfD wants three types of school after elementary school. The comprehensive school should be split. Then there would be the Realschule and a trades and crafts school. The Gymnasium is the third type. Grades should show performance honestly.

The trades and crafts school (HGS) would be practice-oriented with many internships and lead to a vocational qualification after nine years, helping against the skills shortage. The Realschule would end after ten years with the intermediate certificate and open the way to further schools; it would no longer have its own upper level. Both school types would have mandatory final exams. The Gymnasium would focus more on preparing for university, with emphasis on subject knowledge and academic working methods. The platform calls the abolition of the Hauptschule a mistake but says it does not mean a return to it.

The AfD wants students without sufficient German to be taught in separate German classes first. Only those who can demonstrably speak and write German well would join regular classes. The platform argues that otherwise the level of teaching suffers for everyone.

Some children do not speak German well yet. The AfD wants separate German classes for them. They should join normal classes only with good German. The AfD says: Otherwise all children learn less.

The platform criticizes the rule that children with a migration background must be placed in regular classes right away. According to the AfD, this harms both the children with language gaps and local children. Teachers qualified in "German as a foreign language" are to be trained and provided for the German classes. Moving into regular classes would require proof of good spoken and written German.

The AfD rejects having all children learn together without exception and wants to allow different forms of inclusion, such as separate classes within a shared school center. It also wants to strengthen Förderschulen (special-needs schools). The stated reason is the well-being of all students.

The AfD does not want all children to always learn together. Children with and without disabilities can also learn in separate classes. This could happen in the same school center. Special-needs schools should become stronger.

The platform accuses the state government of having ordered schools to teach all subjects jointly even when teachers considered this harmful. The AfD calls this ideologically motivated. Inclusion measures should take into account the views of students with and without disabilities, parents, teachers, schools and taxpayers. Graduates of special-needs schools should also get better conditions for starting a career.

The AfD wants better funding for Saarland's universities while reducing the number of students. It considers the bachelor's-master's system a mistake and wants to reconnect with the older Diplom, Magister and Staatsexamen degrees.

The AfD wants more money for universities in Saarland. But there should be fewer students. The AfD rejects bachelor's and master's degrees. It wants the old degrees back, such as the Diplom.

More money is to go to broadband, additional mid-level academic positions and top-level research, for example in artificial intelligence. Fixed-term contracts at universities are to be pushed back further. The AfD wants to save money through lower student numbers, achieved by stricter requirements for readiness to study and, if needed, universities' own entrance exams. Instead of Europe-wide alignment under the Bologna Process, the platform calls for a return to the Humboldtian tradition of education.

The AfD wants to abolish gender quotas and gender studies chairs at universities and to end what it sees as one-sided politicization. Membership in the student body organization would become voluntary if necessary.

The AfD wants no more professorships for gender studies. Quotas for women and men at universities should also end. The AfD says: Universities are too one-sided politically. Students may get to choose whether they join the student body group.

The platform also lists as problems that German is losing ground in research and teaching, and heavy paperwork when applying for third-party funding. The AfD opposes the broad removal of attendance requirements in courses planned under the new higher education law. It accuses student self-government bodies of being misused for ideological purposes. For that reason, the currently compulsory membership in the student body would, if necessary, be made voluntary in the higher education law.

The AfD wants to prevent pools in need of renovation from closing for good. All children should be required to learn to swim, and school swimming lessons should actually take place.

Many pools in Saarland are closing because money for repairs is missing. The AfD wants to keep these pools. All children should have to learn to swim. Schools should really offer swimming lessons. There should be more teaching pools and fewer fun pools.

The platform says many municipalities are closing pools because of high renovation costs, leaving gaps in the pool network. According to the DLRG lifesaving association, which the AfD cites, children wait up to three years for a spot in a swimming course. The party wants to avert permanent closures. Instead of pure leisure pools, there should be more teaching pools and pools for sport swimmers. Swimming instruction should be compulsory for all children.

The AfD wants visits by Bundeswehr youth officers to be written into the curriculum for the middle grades of secondary schools. The number of youth officers should rise, because the party believes the armed forces are less well known since conscription was suspended.

Youth officers are soldiers who inform students about the German army. The AfD wants their visits to be a fixed part of the curriculum. This should apply to the middle grades. There should be more youth officers. So far there are four.

According to the platform, youth officers provide factual, constitution-based knowledge about the Bundeswehr as a parliamentary army, its tasks, and its mission. They do this through talks, lectures, seminars, and panel discussions, including in teacher training. The AfD argues that public knowledge of the armed forces has declined since conscription was suspended in 2011 and the army was restructured for deployments abroad. The current four officers should therefore be increased.

The AfD Saarland commits to a German Leitkultur (guiding culture) and wants to reestablish a subject called Heimatkunde (local history and homeland studies) at all schools in the state. The aim is to preserve attachment to the homeland in future generations. The party rejects multiculturalism and globalism.

The AfD wants to bring back the school subject Heimatkunde. It teaches children about their home region. All schools in Saarland should offer it. Children should get to know and love their homeland. The AfD speaks of a German guiding culture. By this it means shared values and traditions in Germany.

The subject is to follow earlier standards and be taught across the state. According to the program, the guiding culture draws on three sources: the Christian tradition, the scientific-humanist tradition, and Roman-Germanic law. The AfD stresses love of homeland, historical and national awareness, and regional interests within federal structures.