Many of the teenagers, quite a few of whom are also dealing with trauma of some sort, need several years before they are ready to begin a vocational training course. "We’ve been doing our best for years to help people find success in the school system,” he says. "But we are reaching the limits of what we can do.”In 2023, 44 percent of the vocational training contracts for trainees from countries of refugee origin like Afghanistan or Eritrea were prematurely dissolved. Many vocational schools, for example, have been completely overwhelmed, while hardly any refugees have ended up at the county’s top-level high schools. German schools have been in crisis for more than 10 years, but the large number of newcomers have significantly exacerbated their problems.