Violent protest from the union: Berlin schools should work more closely with the Bundeswehr

The Berlin Education and Science Union (GEW) protested against the project on Friday. “Schools must not be places for the Bundeswehr to indirectly recruit young talent. At events organized by youth officers, the boundaries between information and advertising are blurred,” said co-chair Felicia Kompio.

With the agreement, the Bundeswehr’s influence on school education will be “systematically expanded and institutionally anchored”. This contradicts the mandate for peace education in the Berlin school law. Political education belongs in the hands of trained teachers. The inclusion of youth officers in the school context “normalizes military perspectives on international conflicts,” the letter says. For a real balance, peace policy actors always have to be included, but they have fewer resources.

Kompio also criticized the fact that the Bundeswehr recruits minors and presents military service as an adventure on posters and YouTube videos. In times when war efficiency is propagated as a political goal, the GEW affirms “the mission of peace education and the preservation and preservation of peace”. In addition, school employees clearly rejected the presence of the Bundeswehr at staff meetings. “The Senate administration cannot ignore this attitude of our colleagues from practice,” it said.