Overview
- The federal legal right to Ganztagsbetreuung for first graders is now in force for the 2026/27 school year, obliging local youth-welfare authorities to ensure full-day places within their jurisdictions.
- Lower Saxony says it is largely prepared, reporting that about 85–90% of primary schools already offer Ganztag and that, together with horte and cooperations, places are available for the new cohort.
- Teacher representatives and unions warn of real risks from staff shortages, unfinished facilities such as mensas, and the likely use of different Ganztag models that may offer supervision rather than extended teaching.
- States are coupling the rollout with measures to raise learning time and digital access, including Lower Saxony’s three extra lessons program, state-paid tablet distribution, and a planned anonymized student ID whose technical start is scheduled for 2027.
- Bavaria is providing roughly €461 million for municipal investment through 2029 to create places, but uptake, local bottlenecks and variable quality could shift places away from older pupils and prompt legal complaints or further municipal action.