With approximately 20,000 apprenticeship positions remaining unfilled in the skilled trades at the start of the new training year, the Central Association of German Crafts (ZDH) has warned against the AfD abolishing compulsory schooling should they govern in Saxony-Anhalt.
ZDH General Secretary Holger Schwannecke told the “Bild” that many applicants currently lack essential basic skills in arithmetic, reading, and writing. He asserted that advocating for the removal of compulsory education under these conditions would not only jeopardize the transmission of core competencies.
Schwannecke cautioned that those who seek to make school attendance a voluntary choice are effectively undermining apprenticeships, the supply of skilled labor, and the competitive ability of both the crafts and the wider economy. He emphasized that mandatory school attendance is a central pillar of social welfare and stated that its abolition would constitute a direct attack on the future opportunities available to young people.
