Germany’s education minister backs language tests for 4-year-olds

Federal Education and Family Minister Karin Prien (CDU) is in favor of nationwide language tests for four-year-olds. Depending on the results, there should then be “mandatory language support if necessary” before school enrolment, Prien told the newspaper “Welt am Sonntag”. However, the decision on this is a matter for the federal states, as is the possible introduction of compulsory daycare. However, this would also have “advantages in my view”, said Prien.

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“One alternative is early compulsory schooling for children with special needs, as some states already have or are currently introducing,” the minister continued. “All education ministers now recognize the need to do more in the transition between nursery and school. This iron must now be forged.”

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In general, however, Prien emphasized the educational responsibility of parents for their children. “Education and upbringing start in the family, which has perhaps been somewhat forgotten recently,” she told the newspaper. “A state that wants to do everything in this area will always be overwhelmed.”

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However, children with poorer starting opportunities are now the rule rather than the exception. “This is why it is becoming increasingly necessary to take action to compensate for education,” the CDU politician also pointed out. However, this will “only work if parents, nurseries and schools work better together”.

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Prien criticized the fact that children in the first years of life often no longer receive sufficient attention from their parents “because they are busy with their smartphones”. The effects are dramatic. “Children cannot develop healthily if they no longer receive eye contact and facial expressions from their parents,” warned the minister. In addition, 40 percent of children are no longer read to.

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Once again, Prien spoke out in favor of a ban on cell phones in elementary school. She recalled that she was the first state minister to introduce such a ban in 2023. At the time, she was “still berated as backward and anti-technology”. In the meantime, however, “the debate has developed a great deal of momentum because we can see how much concentration and communication skills suffer from too much screen time.”