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AfD in Saxony-Anhalt: Teachers' mouths banned? A proposal causes excitement!
The AfD in Saxony-Anhalt is planning to ban teachers from making political statements in class, which is met with criticism and resistance.
AfD in Saxony-Anhalt: Teachers' mouths banned? A proposal causes excitement!
The political landscape in Saxony-Anhalt could soon change significantly again. On October 9, 2025, Hans-Thomas Tillschneider, the deputy party leader of the AfD, presented his controversial demands for education and cultural policy in an interview with Spiegel. The core of his concern is a motion that will be discussed in the upcoming state parliament and would like to ban teachers from expressing political opinions in class. Tillschneider argues that anti-racism and diversity, which he calls “diversity propaganda,” pose a threat to the “heterosexual normality” that he sees as central to the continued existence of society. This is reported by Deutschlandfunk, which prepared the report on the topic in detail.
Another aspect that the AfD addresses in its application is the review of existing school names and the future approval of schools that are associated with political or ideological content. The aim is to evaluate both new and existing facilities. The AfD sees the educational role of teachers as a borderline case. In fact, this is intended to draw a clear line to prevent any form of advertising for political parties. N TV reports that SPD parliamentary group leader Katja Pähle harshly criticized the proposal and described it as “culture war rhetoric”. She refers to the Beutelsbach Consensus, which states that teachers should support students in forming judgments and not indoctrinate them.
Educational policy challenges
Teachers are visibly confused about this topic. How can we meet the demands of the AfD and at the same time live up to the obligation of political neutrality? The legal framework represents a major challenge here. Schools are required to explain the dangers of anti-constitutional positions without losing neutrality. Loud Institute for Human Rights A critical examination of the AfD as a right-wing extremist party is unavoidable, even if it was democratically elected. The Bechersbach Consensus makes it clear that right-wing extremist views are not to be treated as equals in the classroom.
Particular attention should be paid to the phenomenon that the AfD is increasingly active on social media channels such as TikTok. Schools and teachers should be prepared not only to uncover these right-wing extremist argumentation patterns, but also to analyze and combat them in a well-founded manner. The integration of political education into lessons should therefore be designed to be interdisciplinary and appealing in order to teach students critical thinking.
The political mood in Saxony-Anhalt
The AfD has recorded an upward trend in recent surveys and is sometimes stated to be the strongest force in Saxony-Anhalt with up to 39 percent. In this context, the party believes it has chances in the upcoming state elections next year. It remains to be seen how the political debate around education and cultural identity will develop and what consequences this will have for schools and teaching staff.
The topics surrounding the AfD in teaching and the politically demanded neutrality are highly topical and not only affect education policy in Saxony-Anhalt, but also raise general questions about the role of schools in the political discourse. The coming months promise exciting discussions.