Backlash after German minister suggests cap on immigrant students in schools

Speaking to a Welt tv program over the weekend, Germany’s Education Minister Karin Prien (CDU) said she was open to introducing a cap on the number of students with a migrant background in school classes.

Her comments came in response to a question from Welt's editor-in-chief, who had referenced similar efforts in Denmark.

Prien suggested that a cap of 30 to 40 percent was a “conceivable model,” emphasizing that the decisive factor for school success is that children should be able to speak German when they start school.

She called for early, mandatory language tests for four-year-olds and binding language learning support measures for those identified as needing help.

Prien argued that looking at the experiences of other countries—specifically Denmark—could provide valuable insights.

What's happening in Denmark?

While Denmark does not have a formal, nationwide quota for children with a migrant background in schools, it has implemented similar measures in certain areas.

In neighbourhoods with a very high proportion of children with a migrant background, the Danish government reportedly required schools to pause the admission of new students and develop plans to attract more “ethnically Danish” students.

However, these were localised interventions, and not a blanket national quota system.

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Reaction in Germany

Prien’s remarks were met with immediate and widespread criticism.

The Federal Government’s Integration Commissioner, Natalie Pawlik (SPD), rejected the proposal, arguing that “Germany does not need quotas in the classroom” and that integration is best achieved through targeted support, not exclusion.

The president of the German Teachers’ Association, Stefan Düll, said that using a child's foreign roots as a benchmark was not helpful. He called the idea of quotas “problematic”, noting the logistical challenges in areas where almost half the population has a migrant background.

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He and other education experts stressed that language skills, not background, should be the main criterion for school admission.

Opposition parties and associations also voiced strong concerns.

The Left Party called the proposal unworkable, especially in urban centres, and warned of stigmatization and exclusion.

The anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD), on the other hand, criticized Prien's proposal as “too lax”, called for a significantly lower limit of ten percent. 

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In fact media reports, including one by the German teachers' magazine News4teachers, have pointed out that the idea of introducing migrant quotas in Germany was first suggested by the AfD.

Not constitutional

Despite the polarised debate that Prien’s comments sparked, the legal, practical, and political obstacles to introducing school quotas in Germany appear insurmountable.

Germany’s Basic Law (Grundgesetz) prohibits discrimination based on origin, meaning that the constitutional court would almost certainly challenge the legality of mandating migrant quotas in schools.

Additionally, in Germany education is primarily the responsibility of states rather than the federal government. So only the states (Länder) can implement binding rules on quotas or mandatory language tests.