Saxony leads nationwide in computer science courses at schools

Saxony has the highest proportion of pupils in Germany who take a basic or advanced course in computer science at upper secondary level. This is according to the latest Computer Science Monitor 2025/26, which is published by the Gesellschaft für Informatik e.V. (GI), the Stifterverband and the Heinz Nixdorf Foundation.

According to the study, more than 40 percent of students in Saxony choose computer science as a subject in their upper secondary school. According to the data, this figure is only 16 percent nationwide and even less than ten percent in Hesse, Lower Saxony, Bremen and Baden-Württemberg. One factor could be the early and continuous contact with the subject of computer science, it was said. In Saxony, computer science has been a compulsory subject in grades seven to ten since 2004.

According to the Computer Science Monitor, ten federal states have introduced computer science as a compulsory subject at all secondary schools as of the 2025/26 school year, which means that the number has doubled in the past five years. Bremen and Rhineland-Palatinate are planning to introduce the compulsory subject in 2026 and 2028 respectively.

Saxony-Anhalt is taking a special approach by introducing the compulsory subject at secondary and comprehensive schools, but not extending it to grammar schools. At grammar schools in Saxony-Anhalt, computer science content only takes place proportionally in the subject "Learning in the digital world", which is mainly aimed at media education. The federal states of Berlin, Brandenburg and Hesse do not have a compulsory computer science subject and have no concrete plans to introduce it across the board.

Skills shortage opens up opportunities

Horst Nasko, Chairman of the Heinz Nixdorf Foundation, referred to the dramatic skills shortage in computer science. "To attract more young talent, we need more computer science lessons at schools that prepare students for university or vocational training and inspire them." It is therefore important that computer science is taught as a compulsory subject in all federal states throughout the entire school career and at all types of schools.