Faulty school diplomas: Lower Saxony certificate errors date back to 2016

Lower Saxony’s Education Ministry has acknowledged that problems with school graduation certificates are not limited to the recent cases in Vechta. Two students from the 2015 graduating class at IGS Rodenberg in Schaumburg district received corrected certificates after a review in 2016.

The ministry then checked the entire 2015-16 cohort at the school to rule out systematic errors. It said investigators found none. To prevent similar mistakes elsewhere, the state school authority informed all integrated comprehensive schools and schools being established about how to apply compensation rules correctly. Those rules allow weaker grades to be offset by stronger ones.

The earlier cases came to light as authorities examined incorrect certificates issued by the Geschwister Scholl secondary school in Vechta. At least 107 students who left the school between the 2019-20 and 2025-26 school years received qualifications that were too low, or no qualification at all. The ministry said the compensation rules had not been applied correctly.

After the Vechta cases became known, people contacted a state help desk in Osnabrück. Many reports concerned the Vechta school, while others referred to several additional schools. The ministry did not identify those schools, saying any information before the review ends would be incomplete.

The state is now conducting sample checks of certificates at about 400 secondary and integrated comprehensive schools. The ministry said the investigation would be carried out thoroughly enough to establish reliably whether the graduation regulations had been misapplied beyond the known cases. It expects to present the results in early October.