The announced gender ban in Bavaria’s schools has met with a lot of criticism and rejection from educational associations. “I don’t think a hard ban on new spellings (…) is necessary or effective. There would be more of a risk of further division and polarization in the school community,” said the chairman of the Philologists’ Association (bpv), Michael Schwegerl, on Wednesday at the request of the German Press Agency in Munich.
The chairman of the secondary school teachers’ association (brlv), Ulrich Babl, explained: “Gender is not a significant issue at Bavarian secondary schools, but we clearly reject a gender requirement.” The Bavarian Teachers’ Association emphasized that it was “unimpressed by this jibe at the traffic light government.” Söder is only “representing in a populist manner the current legal situation, according to which German is the official language in Bavarian schools and authorities.”
To the surprise of many, Söder declared on Tuesday in his first government statement of the new electoral term that gender should be banned in schools and in administration in Bavaria. The Free State would take the same path as some other federal states. At schools in Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt, for example, special characters for gender-neutral language are rejected.
The bpv is committed to ensuring that the German language is handled carefully in Bavarian schools, said Schwegerl. “That means being open to new forms that, for example, treat women and men equally, but not introducing them too hastily before the speaker community gets behind them and a clear set of rules has been developed.” Because of the growing number of students with a migrant background, clear orientation is necessary for language acquisition. “If you’re still struggling with the three grammatical genders and the correct articles in the German language, you don’t need any additional difficulties.”