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Schoolgirls in Friedrichshafen (archive picture)
Photo: Felix Kästle / picture alliance / dpa
The fact that dealing with schools in the group of heads of government is one of the most sensitive items on the agenda has already been observed at earlier meetings of the mini-presidents' conference.
This was confirmed again on Tuesday around 4 p.m.
The participants had already discussed heatedly and inconclusive for well over an hour, then the topic was postponed until later at the suggestion of Berlin's Governing Mayor Michael Müller.
Later, that meant: shortly before 8 p.m.
And then it crunched again.
In advance, the Federal Chancellery had insisted that "the schools should remain closed until February 15".
Distance learning should, however, be offered to children and young people.
The federal states, on the other hand, only wanted to sign that “the agreements made” would remain until mid-February.
more on the subject
Before the Corona summit: Education ministers warn of school restrictions
Corona pandemic: Baden-Württemberg wants to keep daycare centers and primary schools closed
These date from December, were extended once in January, and essentially leave it to the countries to decide how to handle the pandemic in schools.
This leads to very different regulations: For example, Hesse and Rhineland-Palatinate left the schools open, but lifted the compulsory attendance.
In NRW, on the other hand, face-to-face classes were generally prohibited until the end of January, and in Saxony until February 8th.
Baden-Württemberg is aiming for openings from February 1st
However: There are exceptions almost everywhere for the pupils in the final classes who are preparing for their exams.
And when it comes to special needs schools, too, the federal states are taking very different approaches: some of these classes were brought back to schools before everyone else.
It will probably stay with the different paths of the countries.
Until February 14th, "the schools will remain closed or the compulsory attendance will be suspended," said Angela Merkel after the meeting, describing Tuesday's compromise.
There will continue to be exceptions, the day-care centers will proceed in an "analogue" manner.
So the decisions that have been in effect since December remain, but they are to be implemented more restrictively than before by the federal states - an admission that the school strategies have drifted quite apart so far.
And just a few minutes after the meeting, Baden-Württemberg's Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann announced that the agreed school closure would not necessarily be implemented in his federal state by February 14th: He would continue to strive for daycare centers and schools cautiously from February 1st, step by step To open the step again if the infection situation allows, «said the Green politician.
The original draft resolution of the Chancellery contained a work order for the ministries of the federal states: »The conference of family and education ministers are asked to prepare for the time when the incidence falls below a 7-day incidence of 50 to reopen day-care centers. To provide alternating lessons in the elementary schools in compliance with distance rules and to continue to plan distance lessons in subsequent years, «it said.
The sentence was completely negotiated away by the federal states - in line with the strategy that KMK President Britta Ernst had described in the SPIEGEL interview: "During the entire lockdown, the KMK resisted tying school closings to certain incidences," according to the SPD politician.
The school ministers have repeatedly emphasized that »no automatism should lead from an incidence to a school closure.
We all agree on that. "
Demand for long-term concepts
The Bonn economics professor Hans-Martin von Gaudecker had previously explained the effectiveness of school closings, also with side effects: "School closings mainly work because parents stay at home," tweeted von Gaudecker.
The German Daycare Association called for an overall concept for daycare operations under pandemic conditions that goes well beyond the new agreements.
To this end, there must be a nationwide uniform framework for emergency care, long-term plans for the daycare year 2021 and, above all, a uniform and reliable framework to protect educators: »Modify vaccination strategy, provide FFP2 masks for educators, air disinfection devices, rapid tests for Kindergarten teachers «, it says in the demands catalog of the daycare association.
With Dario Schramm, General Secretary of the Federal Schoolchildren Conference, a lot of frustration has spread after ten months of the pandemic.
“Learning from home is still a game between crashed servers and inadequate broadband equipment,” says Schramm. “The federal government and the federal states now finally have to spend a lot of money.
We cannot go into further weeks of chaos learning with seeing eyes - nothing else is what we are currently experiencing. "
In particular, the students in the final classes are currently under pressure and need security for their exams - especially since the decision will mean that further preparatory lessons will be canceled.
"The Conference of Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs has to get together today," demands Schramm, "the shuffling from week to week finally needs an end!"
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