We need a different "new normal"

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Students in Rhineland-Palatinate

More liquid soap, more paper towels, and the mask should not be missing in any satchel: In Germany's schools this school year is a lot different than before Corona, there is the "new normal" with special hygiene rules. However, they polarize: for some they are too lax, for others too strict. This is also due to the fact that the rules are neither uniform nor logical - and education politicians are missing the chance to learn the real lesson from the pandemic: They would have to radically reorganize the school system with united forces. 

Instead, 16 ministries of culture have drawn up 16 different hygiene plans, 16 regulations on airing, cold symptoms and mandatory masking. In North Rhine-Westphalia the latter also applies to lessons. However, mask breaks are allowed in the schoolyard, for example. In Hamburg it's the other way round. There is no mask requirement in the classroom, but in the school yard. When Saxony starts the new school year this Monday, each school can decide for itself. 

Rules can also change quickly. Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Brandenburg and Schleswig-Holstein did not want a mask requirement at first, but then they did. Minister of Education Karin Prien thinks: "The English term 'Hammer and Dance' is a good fit. The school closings were awesome. Now we are dancing and moving one step forward, one step to the side and sometimes one step backwards to do as much as possible To implement face-to-face teaching. "  

It's just stupid when school actors no longer come along, but stumble behind. Especially since school principals speak of a "laboratory situation" at schools whose hygiene rules hardly match the requirements outside: in some places children can meet friends in the indoor pool in the afternoons, but should only go swimming in their "cohorts" in the mornings. Some primary school students are not even allowed to go into the changing room together, for example to blow-dry their hair, as parents have heard. Oh yes, please don't send the child to school with a cough.

No wonder parents and teachers are missing a clear line. Heinz Hilgers, chairman of the German Child Protection Association, criticizes "that almost more infection protection is practiced in children than in adults". To this day, their rights are more restricted than, for example, the right to freedom of trade. Or at parties. 

The ministers of education are admitted that they have to cope with the squaring of the circle: on the one hand, take into account fears of infection, on the other hand, offer lessons as normal as possible. What is incomprehensible, however, is that they are not following a uniform course - and have so far not started any concerted action to jointly address the weaknesses of the school system revealed in the pandemic.

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Delayed digitization, acute teacher shortage, large classes, narrow rooms, dilapidated buildings, huge school centers and a lot of students stumbling to class on the bus: These structures are not exactly suitable for pandemics, but above all, they are also questionable from an educational point of view. Some teachers enjoyed the learning success of children in small groups before the holidays.

It was in unison that the school was a central place for social interaction. Has politics learned from this knowledge? Does the "new normal" include a nationwide major offensive to create better spatial and educational conditions? Were concepts for equal opportunities developed across the board? Now - six months after the school closes - does every student have a laptop, a printer, suitable learning software, digitally savvy teachers and a school with WiFi? 

Unfortunately not. 

There are good reasons for an educational federalism that takes regional differences into account, but it must not depend on where certain standards are met and whether children attend a "good" or "bad" school. During the Corona period, it was particularly noticeable how serious the differences are. They cannot be fixed immediately. But it is necessary to start immediately. 

After all, the delayed digitization is so embarrassing that something is most likely to happen here. Most recently there was a "school summit" in the Chancellery and the coalition committee decided this week that a digital education offensive should be started. It is planned to set up a nationwide education platform, and the EU's Corona aid program will also provide 500 million euros for laptops for teachers. It's a small beginning without an eye for the big picture. A declaration of intent, nothing more for now.