What further proof can the Austrian establishment need that it must reconsider the benefits and costs of mass migration than the fact that more than half of first-graders in the capital cannot properly speak the national language of German.
The exxpress newspaper notes that this is despite the fact that many of these primary school students were born in Austria and attended kindergartens there for more than two years, thus pointing to the existence of growing outer cultures within the country where learning the national language is not prioritised.
Harald Zierfuß, who is education spokesman for the centre-right ÖVP, explained that in some areas, the findings mean that “in an average class of 22 children, often only five really understand the teacher.”
The party is calling for mandatory language proficiency assessments for all children from the age of three. But this ‘solution’ predictably ignores the root of the problem.
FPÖ MEP Petra Steger said the findings revealed “the failure of migration policy,” which is where change is really required. She reported that on top of the fact that “every second student no longer speaks German at home … native children are bullied, teachers intimidated, and even the most severe violence often goes unpunished.”
Our children deserve safety, education, and protection. Austria must once again be master in its own schoolhouse.
In Wiens Schulen zeigt sich das Versagen der Migrationspolitik wie unter einem Brennglas.
Jeder zweite Schüler spricht zu Hause kein Deutsch mehr, in manchen Schulen sind es sogar über 70 Prozent.
Einheimische Kinder werden schikaniert, Lehrer eingeschüchtert und selbst schwerste… pic.twitter.com/m0UNGV3jTH— Petra Steger (@PetraStegerFPOE) November 11, 2025
FPÖ parliamentary group leader and education spokesperson Maximilian Krauss also described the establishment parties’ demand for nationwide kindergarten standards as “proof of complete failure,” and warned:
If the so-called Vienna standards were used as a benchmark for all of Austria, it would amount to a massive decline in educational standards. What has failed in Vienna must not become the nationwide norm.