Muslims are now the majority in Vienna's schools.
Teachers are resigning en masse in the face of an unsustainable situation: violence, harassment and pupils who do not understand German.
Illustrative image
Generated by AI
[social-share align=»right» style=»button» mobile_app=»desktop»]
[social-share align=»center» style=»icon» mobile_app=»mobile»]
According to an article published by RMX News In April 2025, for the first time in Vienna's history, students of the Muslim faith are the largest group in the city's schools. Official data indicate that 41.21 per cent of students identify as Muslim., while only 34.51% identify as Christian. This demographic shift marks a before and after in the religious profile of the school population in the Austrian capital.
The data come from the office of Vienna's Education Councillor, Bettina Emmerling, of the liberal NEOS party. In the same report, it is stated that one 24.51% of the students They do not declare any religion. But what has caused alarm in political and media circles is the speed with which the religious profile of Viennese youth has changed.
The Austrian Freedom Party (FPÖ), a nationalist and conservative party, has described the situation as a “demographic replacement”. MP Maximilian Krauss said that “Austrian children are now a minority in many schools.”and that this endangers the country's traditional values. For the FPÖ, it is no longer about immigration, but about displacement.
This vision has generated controversy and been rejected by other parties, which warn of the danger of fostering hate speech and stigmatisation.
Institutional response: educating in democracy and values
The Vienna Education Councillor, Bettina Emmerling (NEOS), has proposed, as a response, a compulsory subject entitled Living in a democracy. The aim is to promote respect, equality between men and women, and coexistence in a plural society.. Emmerling argues that education must convey fundamental values such as human dignity, individual freedom and tolerance.
«No one in Vienna can live a lifestyle based on a fundamentalist interpretation of religious texts, especially if they are women, anti-minority, anti-state or anti-democratic,» said Emmerling.
Concern over hostile attitudes among young Muslims
According to reports cited by the same RMX News, A section of Muslim students in Vienna refuse contact with Jews, do not accept female authority, and reject the Austrian democratic system.. These attitudes have generated great concern among education experts, sociologists and teachers.
However, several studies, both at university level and commissioned by the Austrian government itself, warn that Young Muslims in Vienna not only show a higher-than-average level of religiosity, but are also more likely to express radical or exclusionary views.. Among these worrying attitudes, antisemitism, discrimination against the LGBTQ community and opposition to equal rights between men and women stand out.
The causes are varied: the influence of the family environment, social networks controlled by Islamist preachers, a lack of linguistic and educational integration, and school ghettos where almost exclusively Turkish or Arabic is spoken.
The authorities admit that there are Viennese schools where more than 80% of the students are of the Muslim faith., and where Western values clash head-on with the dominant culture among the pupils. In these schools, according to reports, It is common for teenage girls to wear the veil and for many boys to practise a much more rigorous form of Islam than was customary two decades ago..
Massive exodus of teachers and collapsed classrooms
The demographic change in Vienna's schools has not only sparked ideological tensions but has also caused a genuine crisis within the education system. According to reports Remix News, Many teachers are resigning in droves. due to growing violence, bullying in the classrooms and the unsustainable conditions for teaching. Thomas Krebs, a prominent member of the teachers“ union, denounces that the situation is at breaking point: "On a peak day, I even received 20 reports of staff contract terminations for the next school year..”
According to Krebs, The underlying problem is the absence of effective measures by the Viennese government.. Students with very poor knowledge of German are admitted, and no firm action is taken against extremism, misogyny and violence. The result is an increasingly degraded and unmanageable learning environment.
Parents avoid state education.
Evelyn Kometter, president of the umbrella organisation for Austrian parents“ associations, corroborates this view. According to her, in many schools the situation is absurd: ”The teacher has to repeat a sentence 10 to 12 times until it is finally understood. But by then, two-thirds of the lesson is already over." Kometter recounts the case of a desperate mother whose son is in a classroom with 22 students, of whom only three speak German fluently.. Under these conditions, he says, “the teacher is not taken seriously and is not understood.”.
As the number of Muslim students continues to grow, many teachers choose to leave. And increasingly… More native families are also trying to move their children to faith or private schools to escape the collapse of the public system..
The school is the battleground of multicultural Vienna.
Vienna's schools have become the main stage for a clash of realities: on the one hand, the rapid growth of pupils of Muslim background, whose values and cultural references are often far removed from Western ones; on the other, an overwhelmed education system, lacking resources and a clear strategy to meet the challenge.
What is at stake is social cohesion, the transmission of shared values and the school's capacity to integrate, educate and shape future citizens. If the system fails to respond with firmness, clarity and equity, the risk is that what is today a school problem will end up becoming an irreversible social fracture.
.
ERC, PSC and Comuns oppose combating political Islam in the European Parliament.
Azerbaijan expels students who wear Islamic headscarves from school
Sharia law in the US is supported by 75% of Muslims, 41% of atheists and up to 20% of Christians.
France now has a halal meat supply without the need to sacrifice animals facing Mecca.
The United Kingdom gives away a thousand hijabs in six months to immigrants arriving via the Channel
US Muslim politicians train Canadian Muslims under the slogan "From the mosque to the city hall"«
Teacher fired in Austria for denying a Muslim woman a prayer room
Canadian government normalizes Islamic prayer during workday
Lleida bans the burqa except if worn for religious reasons
Italy bans burqa and niqab but only in schools
The Generalitat pays tribute to the racist Abu Bakr al-Turtuxí as an anti-racist icon
A student residence in Scotland imposes Islamic law in common areas
Kazakhstan threatens to close private schools that allow hijab
A Catholic university in Belgium incorporates Islamic chants into the opening mass of the course
A Muslim family in Granada chooses a Catholic school and demands that the courts teach Islam there
Phrase of the Week
Image of the Week
-Don't you have cousins?