North Rhine‑Westphalia records ten‑year high in school dropouts without qualifications

In the German state of North Rhine‑Westphalia (NRW), 7,430 of 178,135 pupils left school without any certificate in the last year, raising the overall dropout rate to 4.2 %. This is the highest share since 2015, when the rate was 2.2 %.

The increase is pronounced among students without German citizenship: 15.3 % of foreign‑national students drop out, and the figure jumps to 38 % for Ukrainian pupils. Officials attribute the trend to recent strong immigration, delayed arrivals, and language barriers that prevent timely German language acquisition.

The state education ministry plans to expand integration measures, including additional language‑support classes, more school social workers, smaller class sizes, and the introduction of “ABC‑classes” from the 2028/29 school year, which will test language skills before enrollment and provide extra tutoring where needed.