Einschulungstag - First Day for First Graders

This is the first day when Abecedarians are sent to schools to start their first formal education in Germany. Children are sent-off to their first day of classes with colorful Schultüte (school cones) accompanied by excited parents, grandparents and relatives or friends of the families. Schools try to cheer up the new arrivals by holding small welcome programs with songs, dances and theater pieces participated by other kids in higher grades. 

Below is short explanation of the German education system as posted in wikipedia.

First Grader with School Cone

The responsibility for the German education system lies primarily with the states (Länder) while the federal government plays only a minor role. Optional Kindergarten (nursery school) education is provided for all children between three and six years of age, after which school attendance is compulsory, in most cases for 11 to 12 years. The system varies throughout Germany because each state (Land) decides its own educational policies. Most children, however, first attend Grundschule from the age of six to ten or twelve.

A Multi-cultural Grade School

So heavy!

German secondary education  includes five types of school. The Gymnasium is designed to prepare pupils for university education and finishes with the final examination  Abitur, after grade 12 or 13. The Realschule  has a broader range of emphasis for intermediate pupils and finishes with the final examination Mittlere Reife,  after grade 10; the Hauptschule prepares pupils for vocational education and finishes with the final examination Hauptschulabschluss, after grade 9 or 10 and the Realschulabschluss after grade 10. There are two types of grade 10: one is the higher level called type 10b and the lower level is called type 10a; only the higher level type 10b can lead to the Realschule and this finishes with the final examination Mittlere Reife after grade 10b. This new path of achieving the Realschulabschluss at a vocationally oriented secondary school was changed by the statutory school regulations in 1981 - with a one-year qualifying period. During the one-year qualifying period of the change to the new regulations, pupils could continue with class 10 to fulfil the statutory period of education. After 1982, the new path was compulsory, as explained above. Other than this, there is the Gesamtschule, which combines the approaches. There are also Förderschulen/Sonderschulen. One in 21 pupils attends a Förderschule.  Nevertheless the Förderschulen/Sonderschulen can also lead, in special circumstances, to a Hauptschulabschluss of both type 10a or type 10b, the latter of which is the Realschulabschluss. Most German children only attend school in the morning. There are usually no provision for serving lunch. The amount of extracurricular activities is determined individually by each school and varies greatly.
Many of Germany's hundred or so institutions of higher learning charge little or no tuition by international comparison. Students usually must prove through examinations that they are qualified.
In order to enter university, students are, as a rule, required to have passed the Abitur examination; since 2009, however, those with a Meisterbrief (master craftman's diploma) have also been able to apply. Those wishing to attend a "university of applied sciences" must, as a rule, have Abitur, Fachhochschulreife, or a Meisterbrief. Lacking those qualifications, pupils are eligible to enter a university or university of applied sciences if they can present additional proof that they will be able to keep up with their fellow students through a Begabtenprüfung or Hochbegabtenstudium. A special system of apprenticeship called Duale Ausbildung allows pupils on vocational courses to do in-service training in a company as well as at a state school.

Two First Graders with Their Families

One father cheering up an anxious first grader

How many kilos to carry to school and back?

Watching the welcome program for them

The Welcome Committee Singing "All Children Are Learning How to Read"

It's a small, colorful, beautiful world we live in.

Oh-oh-oh, what are they singing?

A super school cone for a future footballer

The Week About Children

 
 
 
 

As a especial feature for this theme "Kinder sind Zukunft",
(rough translation: Children Are Our Future)
I would like to post this poem about children. I saw this poem
for the first time during the World Conference on Women in Beijing in
1995 and since then, it has been sent, posted, forwarded in the
cyberspace. Author is Unknown.

CHILDREN LEARN WHAT THEY LIVE

If children live with CRITICISM
They learn to CONDEMN
If children live with HOSTILITY
They learn to FIGHT
If children live with RIDICULE
They learn to BE SHY
If children live with SHAME
They learn to FEEL GUILTY

If children live with TOLERANCE
They learn to BE PATIENT
If children live with ENCOURAGEMENT
They learn to HAVE CONFIDENCE
If children live with PRAISE
They learn to APPRECIATE
If children live with FAIRNESS
They learn JUSTICE
If children live with SECURITY
They learn to HAVE FAITH
If children live with APPROVAL
They learn to LIKE THEMSELVES
If children live with ACCEPTANCE and FRIENDSHIP
They learn to FIND LOVE IN THE WORLD.