Both Islamism and right-wing extremism are becoming increasingly widespread among school pupils, an anonymous teacher in the Austrian federal state of Styria warns in Kleine Zeitung.

In an article also covered by Heute, the primary school teacher F. says that terrorists have now become heroes, and that Hitler is a role model among the pupils.

“These are not isolated incidents; the problem is systemic,” says the teacher.

The account sounds like an echo of the Austrian teacher and author Susanne Wiesinger, who in “Culture War in the Classroom” (Kulturkampf im Klassenzimmer) from 2018 opens the book by recounting how Muslim pupils of hers praised the terrorists who carried out the massacre at the offices of Charlie Hebdo in Paris in 2015.

The growing extremism also results in domineering behaviour, says F.

He observes children imposing dress codes on classmates, forbidding them from eating packed lunches during Ramadan, or portraying Islam as a superior religion.

“Whether it is right-wing extremism or Islamism – more and more children are being radicalised.”

The trend coincides with a rising official number of Islamist and right-wing extremist acts in Austria, Heute reports, noting that in 31.3 per cent of cases, the individuals involved are under the age of 18.

The Austrian newspaper has also documented cases of difficult coexistence in kindergartens.

In March, Heute reported on a kindergarten in Graz in Styria where one hears small children say, “I do not play with you because you are Christian”.