Former Abitur student loses lawsuit over cancelled lessons at a Landau school in Rhineland-Palatinate

Court dismisses the suit

The Verwaltungsgericht in Neustadt an der Weinstraße rejected the lawsuit that Elija Walk filed against the state of Rhineland-Palatinate. Walk argued that lessons kept falling out during his time in the upper secondary level at a gymnasium in Landau. The hearing lasted one hour. The presiding judge said the court could not answer the central question for legal reasons.

“The burning question of whether the lessons provided were sufficient to prepare a pupil for the Abitur cannot be answered by the court for legal reasons.”

The judge added that the question has to be settled in political debate, and that the case was worthwhile because it drew public attention. A justice spokesperson in Neustadt summarised the ruling: a re-evaluation of the Abitur results was not possible, and the only option the court considered was retaking the exam, which Walk did not want to do.

Lessons lost at the Landau school

Walk had asked for a re-evaluation of his marks in German, biology and sport. According to his mother, she documented the cancellations over three years, and the family counted 405 hours in total. In one Leistungskurs at the Eduard-Spranger-Gymnasium in Landau, almost every second lesson fell out in the second half of Grade 12. Walk passed his Abitur in spring 2025 with a grade of 2.1. He now studies social and communication sciences in Landau.

Homeschooling and doubts about the system

Walk tried to close the gaps himself by working through books in advance, searching online and watching YouTube videos. He said this was not the same as teaching, because questions could not be asked and the learning environment was missing. He raised the broader question of what happens when parents cannot make up for missed lessons. Walk said his lawsuit went beyond his own results and concerned the educational chances of younger pupils. He rejected the official response he had heard so far.

“There was no sentence saying: we know it is not good, but we are trying to make it better.”

Authorities' response

The Aufsichts- und Dienstleistungsdirektion (ADD) acknowledged an 'unglückliche Häufung von Ausfall', an unfortunate accumulation of cancellations. It said that cancelled lessons in upper-secondary Leistungskurse are generally covered by permanently employed teachers. The authority did not see a disadvantage in the Abitur exam as proven. An urgent legal procedure failed in two instances before the case reached the main hearing.

Classmates and protests

Former classmates Luca and Janne came to court to support Walk. Janne said that a cancelled lesson first brings a feeling of relief, but that the gaps become visible when exam questions cover topics that were only briefly taught. Luca said that heavy cancellations threaten equal opportunity and that the larger goal is an improvement of the system. Reactions online from Hamburg to Munich show that the case has spread across Germany. Walk also pointed to the youth protests announced nationwide for Saturday, 31 October, and to recent demonstrations in France.