Compulsory schooling ensures opportunities and cohesion: Saarland supports Federal Council resolution for strong educational system
Equal educational opportunities, social participation, integration, and the promotion of democratic values: The Federal Council today advocated for the preservation and strengthening of compulsory education as a pillar of the German education system. Saarland joins the resolution, thereby sending a clear signal for a fair education system.
Minister of Education Christine Streichert-Clivot:
“Every child has a right to good education, individual support, and the experience of belonging. School is a place of joint learning and living where children
and young people experience community, take responsibility, get to know different perspectives, and practice democratic coexistence every day. Compulsory schooling ensures that all young people have access to education and participation
– regardless of where they come from, under what social conditions they grow up, whether they live with a disability or impairment, or whom they love.
Especially in a time when some again rely on isolation instead of community, declare diversity an enemy, and want to prescribe backward-looking role models to young people, we must be clear: No child may be excluded, limited in their opportunities, or kept from social participation. School opens doors and horizons. It brings people together where others want to divide. That is why compulsory schooling is a guarantee of equal opportunity and social cohesion.”
What the Bundesrat resolution means for a fair and strong education system:
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Equal educational opportunities: The general compulsory education ensures all children and young people access to mandatory schooling and helps reduce unequal starting conditions.
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Learning together and democratic education: School imparts not only professional skills but also social and civic abilities. It strengthens responsibility, respect, tolerance, and understanding of the values of the liberal democratic basic order.
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Participation and Integration: Equal educational and participation opportunities must be guaranteed for all children and young people. Learning together in school strengthens integration and social cohesion.
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Permanently strengthen compulsory schooling: The federal government is called upon to take the importance of compulsory schooling into account in future initiatives related to education and to oppose efforts that weaken this fundamental principle.
With this resolution, the Bundesrat reaffirms compulsory schooling as an indispensable foundation of a high-performing, fair, and integration-strong education system. Saarland supports this course: Good education must reach all children and young people, enable participation, and strengthen social cohesion.
