After-school care blocked in Stendal despite urgent need

Stendal's after-school care crisis deepens after funding rejection

Local Council Rejects Federal Funding for After-School Care—Despite Urgent Need

In a joint vote, the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) and the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) on the district council rejected federal funding for a new after-school care center—even though, according to city officials, the Stendal-Stadtsee neighborhood is in desperate need of additional childcare spots.

Just a short distance from the old youth club stands Juri Gagarin Elementary School, where over 300 students are enrolled. While the school has its own after-school program, it only offers around 100 places—far too few to meet demand. Initially, there were discussions about expanding the existing facility, but city administrators argued that a brand-new center would be far more child-friendly.

The design for the new after-school program was developed by the Eckstein Social Diaconal Services, a Stendal-based welfare organization, in cooperation with the city. In addition to the federal funds, the diaconal services had pledged €100,000 of their own money, while the city was prepared to contribute €50,000. The largest share—€350,000—would have been covered by the federal government. So what was the problem?

Declining Birth Rates and Long-Term Risks

The issue: the €350,000 in federal funding came with strings attached. The new center would have had to operate for at least 15 years; otherwise, the government could demand repayment. For a debt-ridden city like Stendal—where budgets are tight and every expense is scrutinized—that was a gamble too far. Parts of the CDU faction found themselves in rare agreement with the AfD, which has been classified as "confirmed far-right" by Saxony-Anhalt's domestic intelligence agency. Together, they concluded that the financial risk was simply too high.

In many East German municipalities, governing majorities without the AfD have long been impossible. The once-firm firewall against cooperation with the far right has crumbled. In an interview with MDR, Thomas Weise, a CDU city councilor and district assembly member, stated: "Of course, we want every child who needs after-school care to have a place." But, he added, decisions on investing in new childcare capacity must be made with a long-term perspective.

A Neighborhood of 30 Nations

Stendal-Stadtsee is a classic satellite settlement of the kind built on the outskirts of cities like Halle, Leipzig, and Dresden during the GDR era. In the 1980s, prefabricated high-rises sprang up in this picturesque lakeside location. Back then, a nuclear power plant was under construction just outside Stendal, prompting the need for housing, schools, supermarkets, a cultural center, and a hospital. The plant was never completed, and its ruins still stand by the Elbe River today. After reunification, the neighborhood shrank, with many apartments left vacant. That changed in 2015 with the arrival of migrants, followed in recent years by numerous Ukrainian refugees.

Bastian Sieler, Stendal's independent mayor, explains: "Many children in Stendal-Stadtsee don't yet speak German fluently. They need special support." The students in the neighborhood come from around 30 different nations. Just a few years ago, a study by the Bertelsmann Foundation found that four out of five parents in Stendal-Stadtsee were living in precarious conditions—working low-wage jobs, long-term unemployed, or raising children alone.

When the federal government speaks of educational equity, it has neighborhoods like Stadtsee in mind. It has long been known that poverty in Germany limits opportunities. A key step toward change: starting in August 2026, every first-grader in Germany will be entitled to full-day care, with the program expanding to all elementary school students by 2029. After-school programs are meant to compensate for what parents cannot provide—but only if municipalities are prepared.

Mayor Sieler emphasizes: "Educational success in Germany still depends far too much on a child's family background. But for the shift to full-day schooling to work, we also need sufficient after-school capacity." In Stendal-Stadtsee, he admits, that capacity is still lacking.

Chronic Overload in Childcare

Frauke Mingerzahn, a professor of childhood education at Magdeburg-Stendal University of Applied Sciences, explains what an after-school program should ideally offer. "Children should have the opportunity to develop independently in the afternoons. While homework supervision is provided, they should otherwise be free to choose their own playmates and activities."

For children who struggle with subjects like math, after-school care isn't about adding another math lesson—it's about learning to count or calculate through play. The same goes for language support. In these programs, children can be encouraged to tell stories, have books read to them, and, most importantly, be given the chance to speak for themselves.

But in Saxony-Anhalt, this ideal collides with one of Germany's worst staff-to-child ratios. In primary school after-care programs there, a single educator is often responsible for around 25 children. The result: chronic overwork, even in small facilities.

Could the system ease up if there are fewer children in the long run? Mingerzahn says the legally mandated staffing ratio would need to be adjusted for that to happen. She advocates for change: "There's a big difference between being responsible for ten children and twenty. With twenty, it's easier for one to slip through the cracks."

Risk of Repayment?

In Stendal-Stadtsee, the CDU declined to comment to our website on the vote regarding after-school care. Arno Bausemer of the far-right AfD responded in writing, suggesting that the existing spaces at Juri Gagarin Primary School could be used in the afternoons. However, he warned that the risk of later having to repay funds to the federal government was too high. In a comment under a Facebook post, he wrote: "With a strong AfD government in Saxony-Anhalt, many children of asylum seekers, along with their parents, will be leaving Stendal very soon."

State elections in Saxony-Anhalt are set for September. A leaked draft of the far-right AfD's government program reveals its education plans under the slogan "More family, less state." The party proposes reducing the number of school social workers, arguing that "functional families" should render them unnecessary. It also calls for preparing a "remigration offensive" targeting Ukrainians living in Saxony-Anhalt.

Currently, the AfD is polling at around 39 percent in the state. Depending on how many parties clear the five-percent threshold, the far-right could secure an absolute majority—and govern alone.