Non-military schools in Germany

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As part of the work against the militarisation of the education system, several schools in Germany have refused to cooperate with the German Armed Forces and won’t tolerate appearances from them in schools.

Robert Blum Grammar School in Berlin passed the motion of “Schools Without Military” on Thursday the 24th of March 2011 with a 7:1 majority. The motion went as follows:

Robert Blum Grammar School - Schools without Armed Forces

Robert Blum Grammar School refuses to work together with the Armed Forces in regards to education. Included in this refusal is:

- Any cooperation agreements with the armed forces

- The invitation of educational officers to lessons or school activities

- The advertisement of placements in armed forces buildings

- Any excursions to armed forces buildings or activities carried out by the armed forces

- Any advertisements for training courses with the armed forces or for a place to study at an Armed Forces’ university

- The participation of schools in competitions, exhibitions or recruitment fairs which are organised by the armed forces

- The distribution of advertising material from the armed forces

On the 23rd and 24th of March 2011 the Kaethe-Kollwitz school’s (vocational school in Offenbach/Hessen) committee spoke out against any collaboration with the armed forces despite the closed cooperation agreement between the state’s ministry of culture and the armed forces in November 2010.

On the 15th of June 2011 the August Sander school (vocational school with a special needs focus in Berlin Friedrichshain) teachers’ conference disbanded the proposed resolution - following the decision of the Robert Blum Grammar School - which refuses any collaboration and at the same time emphasised the sovereignty of every teacher in lesson planning, taking into consideration the Beutelsbacher Consensus.

At the Martin Buber school in Heppenheim the teachers’ conference made a decision against the entry of the armed forces.

The vocational school in Gelnhausen succeeded in getting a youth officer to withdraw. After they had sent him a critical catalog of questions, his superiors suddenly no longer granted him permission for school visits (class 12/5 of the vocational college, public and business administration branch: http://www.ag-friedensforschung.de/themen/Schule/gelnhausen.html)

At the Hulka-Pankok-Gesamtschule in Düsseldorf, the motion “Schools without Armed Forces” was unanimously accepted by the teachers, parents and students in October 2010.

At the Bertolt Brecht School (BBS) in Darmstadt, a decision was made on the 11th of May 2012 by the entire conference to reject the armed forces’ cooperation agreement with the state of Hessen. The decision was negotiated in the BBS on the 24th of May. On the 25th there was a press conference in the TU’s Asta with the head girl, a teacher from the BBS and a representative of the group “Schools without Armed Forces”.

More information: http://schule-ohne-militaer.de

http://wri-irg.org/de/node/15325

Translation: Lewis Sinkala

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