A 15-year-old feels manipulated by a Social Democratic minister.

Education Minister Mattias Tesfaye (Social Democrats) appears on screen with a direct message to the oldest primary school students in the country.

*"School should make you smarter—not completely exhausted,"* he says in the video, which is posted on Instagram and TikTok, and continues:

*"But if the school day becomes too long, there’s no energy left for what matters outside of school. That’s why the Social Democrats—and DSU—support shorter school days,"* he states.

The message hit home with 15-year-old Shahin Mohammad Rafi, a 9th grader at Strandvejsskolen in Copenhagen.

*"That’s why I voted for the Social Democrats,"* he says.

Today, however, he feels differently.

Also read: A 19-second video now triggers insults against Mattias Tesfaye: Nonsense, lies, and manipulation (https://www.dr.dk/nyheder/politik/en-video-paa-19-sekunder-faar-nu-skaeldsordene-til-regne-ned-over-mattias-tesfaye-fup-loegn-og)

For in the Social Democrats’ new school proposal from last week, there’s nothing about shorter school days. And after an inquiry from DR Nyheder, the minister also refuses to confirm that he will shorten the school day for older primary school students.

*"If he’s promising everything while saying he’ll shorten school days for young people, then he should actually stand by it,"* says Shahin Mohammad Rafi, a student in 9th grade.

Shahin feels manipulated.

*"When you see a minister—someone you should trust—saying they support it, just because their youth wing also supports it, it gives a sense of security that you can actually rely on them,"* he explains.

*"But he’s the one with the power. So if he’s promising everything about shortening school days for young people, he should actually do it. He shouldn’t just say it to win votes in the school election,"* Shahin adds.

---

**“Exploiting it to get our vote”**

The same frustration is shared by 15-year-old Liva Maria Kapsch-Jørgensen.

It was also the promise of shorter school days that led her to mark the Social Democrats on her ballot.

Today, she’s disappointed.

*"I think it’s manipulation, and it’s not okay that they’re lying about it. Especially to us young people, who might be a bit more naive, and that they’re exploiting that to get our vote,"* says Liva Maria Kapsch-Jørgensen.

But isn’t that just how politics works—during an election campaign, you ramp up the rhetoric a bit and say certain things, and then you see if you can deliver on them later?

*"Sure, that might be how it works, but I still don’t think it’s fair. And I don’t want to support a party that does that at least,"* says Liva Maria Kapsch-Jørgensen.

The Social Democrats won a decisive and surprising victory in the 2026 school election, held at the end of January.

The Social Democrats secured 23% of the votes, overtaking the Liberal Alliance as the largest party among students in 8th, 9th, and 10th grades—a result that also pleased Prime Minister and Social Democrat leader Mette Frederiksen, who celebrated on her Instagram profile.

Screenshot from Mette Frederiksen’s Instagram profile after the school election.

Shahin Mohammad Rafi, however, is not convinced that the outcome would have been the same if students had known that the Social Democrats are not actively fighting to shorten the school day for older primary school students.

*"I definitely don’t think they would have gotten so many votes if they had said it the way they actually believe it,"* he states.

---

**The minister refuses to address the criticism**

Mattias Tesfaye is not willing to grant an interview to DR and respond to the students’ criticism.

When directly asked how many hours he plans to shorten the school day, Mattias Tesfaye refers via his press office to the government’s previous efforts to shorten school days—though only for the youngest students in grades 0 to 3, and not for older students, whom he addressed on Instagram and TikTok during the school election.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Children and Education writes that in an agreement from 2024, municipalities were given the freedom to shorten school days for all students, though this is entirely voluntary and up to each individual municipality.

*"It has long been a wish from students, and it is now finally implemented. Of course, we want to highlight that. That’s why I use every opportunity to mention it,"* writes Mattias Tesfaye.

Shahin Mohammad Rafi finds that response unsatisfactory.

*"It doesn’t make sense to make a video during an election about something they’ve already done, when they’re running on the promise that they want to do it now. That makes no sense at all,"* he says, adding that Mattias Tesfaye *"certainly isn’t talking about something he’s previously introduced."*

Mattias Tesfaye’s actions have also drawn criticism from both sides of the Folketing, where Alternativet and the Danish People’s Party accuse the children and education minister of deception and voter manipulation.

---

**DSU defends Tesfaye**

It was the Danish Social Democratic Youth (DSU) that chose the issue of shorter school days for the school election. DSU leader Katrine Evelyn Jensen would have liked to see shorter school days for older students included in last week’s Social Democratic school proposal, but she doesn’t believe there’s anything to criticize Mattias Tesfaye for.

*"Mattias Tesfaye has been a strong advocate for shortening school days in both ways,"* she says.

He has given municipalities the option to shorten school days for older students. He hasn’t personally shortened school days for older students, as he did for the youngest?

*"No, that’s correct."*

Can you understand why students get the impression that Mattias Tesfaye will shorten school days when he says the Social Democrats support shorter school days?

*"That’s exactly what Mattias Tesfaye has been doing. He’s the minister who has given the option to shorten school days for older students,"* says Katrine Evelyn Jensen.

Warning: This article was translated by a Large Language Model, in case of doubt, you can always visit the original source.