Applications for flagging at schools in Saxony too

The German flag could also fly in front of schools in Saxony in future. In the district of Bautzen, the district council will vote on two motions from the CDU and AfD regarding the flying of flags in schools next Monday. This will be followed on Wednesday by a vote in the Erzgebirgskreis on another AfD motion.

So far, no similar plans or regulations that have already been passed are known in other districts. The district of Zwickau announced that there is currently no possibility of flying flags at most of the schools there, as there are no flagpoles.

Guideline to be drawn up in Chemnitz

In Chemnitz, the city council commissioned the administration to draw up a guideline for the "permanent flying of flags on municipal buildings" last Wednesday. A draft resolution is expected to be presented in the third quarter of this year.

The state capital, on the other hand, sees the responsibility for the issue with the Free State, whose supervision the public schools are subject to, according to Education Mayor Jan Donhauser. The city of Leipzig refers to a rejected motion by the AfD from 2023.

AfD submits motion in state parliament

The AfD would also like to push through a regulation at state level after a failed attempt in 2023. In a motion in the state parliament at the beginning of June, the parliamentary group called for "public schools to be permanently flagged with the federal flag". This is justified by the mandate set out in the Education Act to teach pupils "a love of their homeland, a sense of political responsibility and a liberal, democratic attitude".

To date, Saxony only has an administrative regulation (VwV) from the State Chancellery, which regulates flagging in general for official buildings. "Schools could be considered in the context of this VwV, but this has not yet been implemented in practice," said the State Office for Schools and Education. The office does not make any further specifications.

Decisions already made in Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia

The decision of individual districts in the neighboring state of Saxony-Anhalt to permanently fly the German flag at schools and public buildings recently caused discussion. In Jerichower Land, for example, the Left Party was particularly critical because the decision to permanently fly the flag was based on a motion by the AfD and the CDU agreed to it. In Thuringia, the Saale-Orla district passed the first resolution by a district council in favor of permanent flagging.