BERLIN — The school ruler must be an exact length. Each child is required to have three pairs of shoes: one for the classroom, one for outdoor sports and a third, with non-marking soles, for indoor sports. Their schoolbags must be reinforced, stand upright on their own and be able to carry pounds of homework.

All this and more must be checked off on an intimidating list of supplies even before children in Germany turn out for what Ina Scheible, the principal of the Arkonaplatz Elementary School in Berlin, calls “the most important day of the school calendar.”

In Germany, the first day of primary school, or “Einschulung” — which literally translates as schoolification — is a big deal. Other countries may pull out all the stops when students finish school. Here, the ceremonial pomp, and damage to your bank account, happens before a student even starts.

As with elsewhere in Germany, the ceremony at Arkonaplatz, Berlin’s oldest public elementary school, played out recently in a gymnasium that was richly decorated with garlands and colorful handmade fliers. The students, dressed in button-down shirts and Sunday dresses, sat in two rows at the front, visibly nervous and excited. Friends and family were assembled on rows of stackable chairs behind.