Germany`s Educational System (13-01-05)

During our second week in Germany, precisely on the 13th of January 2005, we had a workshop on the educational systems throughout Germany. It was presented by one of the students at the University of Tübingen, Stephan Anders.

It was quite a shock to learn the distinctions in systems that aim for the same goal, yet be so varied from one country to another. Coming from South Africa where we have ‘the survival of the fittest’ situation when it comes to educational issues, it made me wonder how the ‘free education’ system can change or improve our country. Would it encourage our young people to develop more interest in education? Would it work in South Africa? These are the types of questions that broke through my mind! Nevertheless, the focus in this report is on the German not the South African system.

As mentioned earlier, the education system is ‘free’ in Germany in a sense that the parents or students are not expected to pop out money directly from their pockets to pay the school fees or tuition. Education is funded via taxes. Tax is redistributed between the states, where the states with higher tax revenue per capita share their revenue with economically weaker states. Therefore, education is primarily the responsibility of the States. "Wunderbar!!!" The exception is "Kindergarten", which is not part of the ‘state-supported’ education system.

The German structure of education is not vastly different in comparison to other countries. Like in most countries, the kids begin at kindergarden from ages 3 to 6 years old. Then they proceed to primary school referred to as "Grundschule", and it begins at age 6 and lasts for approximately four years, followed by a secondary level that generally starts at age 11. This comprises of "Hauptschule", for less academic children, "Realschule", for intermediates, and "Gymnasium", for the academically oriented.

The lecture we had was interesting, although half of the time the focus was on Tübingen. At some point we wondered among ourselves if the lecture was about Tübingen’s education system or Germany’s. Nonetheless, it was enjoyable and I admired the sense of pride that the people of Tübingen have towards their small town where almost everything in it has something to do with the University. They say Tübingen does not have a University, it is a UniverCity!!!

(Report by Mbali Vilakazi, University of Witwatersrand)