Saarland schools face shortage of full‑day places and new classrooms

In Saarbrücken, parents of children at the primary school Hohe Wacht attended a lottery to decide which pupils would receive a full‑day school place for the coming year, as demand far exceeds the limited number of slots. The shortage comes despite a nationwide legal right to full‑day care that is being phased in from August, and the city reports a deficit of several hundred places across its primary schools.

The problem is echoed elsewhere in the state. In the village of Salmtal, families have been waiting for years for a new primary‑school building to relieve overcrowding at existing facilities. Parents blame bureaucratic delays for the prolonged lack of space, highlighting the broader challenge of providing adequate school capacity for growing enrolments in Saarland.