The Danish government announced changes last November to the country’s education system, which include creating a new type of high school for vocational courses, abolishing the optional extra year between middle school and high school, and stricter entry requirements for regular high school.

This concerns Danish youth, as it puts their future careers at stake and jeopardises their ability to have many possible options in terms of education.

In the current school system, after middle school (folkeskole, ages 7–16), students have a choice before they go to high school (gymnasium, ages 16–20). They can take an extra year (tenth grade) trying to improve their academic results or spend a year with their friends and hobbies at a type of boarding school (efterskole – a concept that is unique to Denmark).

This allows students to get a good education and decide what they want to specialise in by the time they graduate, but also gives them the space to enjoy their high school experience.

The regular gymnasium (STX) ends with an exam that qualifies students for higher education; there are other types of less academic and more occupation-oriented options too.

However, due to recent changes in the economic and technological framework of the world, such as the green transition towards renewable energy and the development of AI, the government has decided that Danes must be educated in “more practice-oriented and flexible education programmes with a freer framework and higher quality”. The government is particularly concerned with training nurses, educators, computer scientists and electricians.

The reform consists of the following proposals: abolishing the optional tenth grade between middle school and high school; reallocating financial resources from regular public high schools (STX) towards a new vocational type of school (EPX); and increasing the average grade required to enter a gymnasium.

The government is working on creating 87 new EPX institutions, to be ready to implement the new educational reforms from 2030. It will cost DKK 5bn (around $700,000) to prepare for the transition, plus another DKK 2.3bn per year.

Harbingers’ Magazine interviewed four high-school students in Copenhagen about the proposed reforms. Two are Danes from the regular Danish system (STX); two have Danish and African backgrounds and are studying the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP). All are worried about the effects of budget cuts on the quality of education.

She is disappointed by the proposals: “I think I can speak on behalf of my classmates when I say I think it’s a shame that they’re considering implementing these reforms. They are definitely going to affect the quality of education a lot. Students will get a worse education than if the schools were allowed to keep their budget.”

Rasmus, also 16, an STX student, agrees that budget cuts are going to have a significant difference on the style of education. He shares a personal perspective: “I’m on the more nature-science route, so if they cut the budget we’re going to have less experimental and lab work and much more writing in class, so in that sense it is pretty awful.”

With that being said, the reforms could be beneficial, but their implementation is a concern for students.

Oscar, 18, chair of the student council at Nørre Gymnasium’s STX believes the strategy lacks quality: “I think EPX [vocational and profession-oriented] is a good idea, but it seems like they’re trying to move students to EPX without them wanting to.”

He adds: “Also, they are making the grade requirement for EPX only 2, while raising it to 6 for the regular STX. I think it kind of creates a school for the clever people and sends what they think are the stupid people to the EPX.”

Rebecca, also 18, who is on the IB diploma programme, shares her insight on what awaits Danish students: “If they remove a grade and create a new type of education, there will be more people who just wouldn’t want to attend regular high school, and are only left with the option of vocational training, which might not be something they want to do.”

Students will have to work harder for a better grade to enter high school in the first place, which could be demotivating and make them reluctant to go to school, which is unusual for Denmark.

“This goes against the basic rights that we have, as Danes, in the constitution. I feel bad because future generations will just have to live with the mistakes of the adults of the current generation,” said Rebecca.

Students all over Denmark are coming together to fight for their educational rights, taking part in demonstrations and awareness-raising campaigns, to take the future into their own hands.