AfD’s plan to segregate disabled and refugee children sparks backlash in Germany

Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) has pledged to remove disabled and refugee children from mainstream schools in Saxony-Anhalt if it wins the state election on September 6, prompting warnings that its education policy would institutionalise discrimination and deepen social division.

The AfD’s election manifesto declares that the “inclusion experiment has failed and must be ended” and proposes a fundamental overhaul of the state’s education system. Among its plans is an expansion of special schools for children with disabilities, effectively reversing Germany’s move towards educating children with and without disabilities together.

The proposal goes further by seeking to place refugee children in separate educational settings. The party says this would “reinforce the message that their stay in Germany is only temporary.”

Rather than treating education as a means of integration and equal opportunity, the policy frames refugee children primarily through their immigration status. Critics argue that separating children on the basis of whether they are refugees, risks turning schools into instruments of exclusion rather than places where children can participate equally in society.

The AfD also wants to prevent Islamic education from being offered in schools, arguing that “Islam is not part of Germany” and that providing such education would be “virtually impossible” at a reasonable cost.

The proposals have drawn criticism from political opponents, who warn that the party’s approach would create a two-tier education system.

Conrad Clemens, Saxony’s minister of education, told local media: “The idea of putting foreigners and students with disabilities in separate classes leads to a dangerous division in the classroom. Such ideas are unacceptable for our education system.”

The AfD’s education proposals form part of a wider programme that seeks to challenge Germany’s approach to immigration and its relationship with Russia. The party has called for greater provision of Russian language teaching and the reinstatement of school exchanges with Russia, arguing that current policies towards Russia are “not in Germany’s interests.”

The proposals are particularly contentious given the AfD’s political standing in Saxony-Anhalt.

Ulrich Siegmund, the party’s leading candidate in the state, is regarded as one of its more hardline figures. The state’s chapter of the AfD has been classified as “right-wing extremist” by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Germany’s domestic intelligence agency.

The agency has raised concerns about the party’s understanding of citizenship and its emphasis on ethnic identity, arguing that elements of the AfD’s political programme are incompatible with Germany’s constitutional principles.

Opponents have also warned about the potential consequences of an AfD-led state government for public institutions and national security. Concerns have included the handling of sensitive and classified information if the party were to gain control of government departments.

Germany has spent decades developing an education system intended to accommodate children with different needs and backgrounds. The AfD’s proposals would represent a move in the opposite direction, replacing integration with separation.

That has also raised the prospect of legal challenges if the party enters government and attempts to implement the measures. Any such programme would have to contend with Germany’s constitutional protections, including principles of equality and human dignity.

Recent polling has put the AfD in a strong position ahead of the September 6 election, raising the prospect that proposals once confined to the political fringe could become government policy.