A difficult start in life: Even primary school is a lot of trouble for children in Ludwigshafen. In the second largest city in Rhineland-Palatinate, many first-graders will probably have to repeat the year.

At the Gräfenauschule in Ludwigshafen, Palatinate, numerous first-graders with a migration background have once again failed to achieve their learning goals.

“At the moment there are about 37 out of 147 children for whom repeating a year would make sense,” headmistress Barbara Mächtle told the German Press Agency. That’s almost one in four. “But the parents have to agree to it.” An initial estimate in April was based on 44 children.

The Hemshof school in the second largest city in Rhineland-Palatinate is described by many as a hotspot or problem area. The situation in Ludwigshafen had already caused a stir across the region last year. At that time, 39 of the 126 first-graders had to repeat the school year.

The children often speak poor German or come from families with little education. And there is the problem of adopting the structures of everyday school life, which many children find very difficult after a short visit to daycare.

According to Mächtle, the school is still in contact with the state education ministry, the supervisory and service directorate (ADD) and the city administration. One of the issues is language support.