Far-right tells children to report teachers’ ‘bias’

‘A party using this to expose disagreeable teachers … reveals a lot about its understanding of democracy’

GERMANY’S far-right AFD party has been criticised for launching a child informant programme in schools, in which pupils expose teachers who attack the party or show political bias.

The Hamburg chapter of Alternative für Deutschland, which made major gains in last year’s general election, launched a “neutral schools” website where anonymous complaints can be made about teachers.

But Katarina Barley, the German justice minister, condemned the pro- gramme, warning that “organised denunciation is a tool of dictatorships”.

“A party using this to expose disagreeable teachers … reveals a lot about its own understanding of democracy,” she added.

German teaching unions also hit out at the Stasi-esque surveillance scheme, which AFD hopes to extend to nine other states, including Bavaria, Brandenburg, Baden-württemberg and Saxony.

“It’s to be expected that a party that wants to ostracise dissenters is creating platforms to denounce people who have different opinions,” Ilka Hoffmann, of the German Education Union, told the Funke newspaper group. Teachers should be scared. This is a frightening development.”

AFD is the largest opposition party in the German parliament following a surge in support in the September 2017 election.

It has capitalised on popular anger against Chancellor Angela Merkel’s liberal refugee policy. But the extreme rhetoric of some of its members has led to claims that the party harbours neonazi and fascist sympathisers.