Education
Germany has above EU average for school dropouts
No desire to go to school anymore: “The fact that Germany once again has the fourth highest school dropout rate in Europe is something that the federal and state governments have to worry about.” photo
© Marijan Murat/dpa
Despite slight improvement: Too many young people in Germany are still dropping out of school. Education Minister Stark-Watzinger is calling for a turnaround.
In 2022, the Federal Republic had a dropout rate of 12.2 percent, and the EU as a whole had a dropout rate of 9.6 percent, according to figures from the EU statistics authority Eurostat, which were first reported by the Germany editorial network. The German rate was the fourth highest after Romania (15.6), Spain (13.9) and Hungary (12.4).
The EU average rate has improved by 0.9 percentage points since 2018, while the German rate has worsened by 1.9 points over the same period. However, from 2021 to 2022, Germany reduced the rate to a similar extent as the EU as a whole: by 0.3 points.
Federal Education Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger called for a turnaround in educational policy that starts with basic skills such as reading, writing and arithmetic. “The fact that Germany once again has the fourth highest school dropout rate in Europe is something that the federal and state governments have to worry about,” the FDP politician told the newspapers of the Funke media group. The billion-dollar “Starting Opportunities” program for the targeted support of hotspot schools should be started from the next school year. “But efforts should also be increased beyond that so that the rate falls and we don’t permanently lose these young people.”