Overview

• DRK proposes that students from grade seven receive at least two hours of resuscitation training each school year, with refreshers recommended about every two years.
• Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia are introducing compulsory school reanimation training and Saarland already requires it, but most states have no mandate because education policy is set at state level.
• DRK data show laypeople start CPR in only about half of cardiac arrests, which the organization lists as Germany’s third most common cause of death where every second counts before emergency services arrive.
• Surveys by aid groups report widespread skill decay, with many people’s last first-aid course taken more than a decade ago and significant uncertainty about performing key measures.
• DRK points to Denmark’s school-based requirement as a model and argues wider training could save thousands of additional lives each year.