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It is still unclear when the classrooms will fill up again (symbol picture)
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Fabian Sommer / picture alliance / dpa
At the top of the agenda at the federal-state consultations this Wednesday is the question of how to proceed with the daycare centers and schools in the corona shutdown.
The 16 education ministers do not decide in this round, but have clearly positioned themselves in advance:
If the corona numbers continue to fall, the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs (KMK) »emphatically advocates that, in addition to the graduating classes, also the lower age groups, starting from February 15, in the restricted regular operation according to the regulations of the respective country, for example in the Alternating or face-to-face lessons are allowed, ”says a joint resolution published by the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs (KMK) on Tuesday.
The 16 school ministers of the federal states held a video conference on Monday evening.
In their paper they now warn: "The negative consequences of school closings for educational biographies and the social participation of children and young people must be limited."
The KMK's step-by-step plan from the beginning of January is also mentioned with a view to possible easing.
This recommends that school operations be gradually resumed, starting with the primary school pupils, depending on the infection situation.
Afterwards, older students should initially return to the schools in an alternating model.
More funding opportunities, more social work
In doing so, however, the ministers did not - contrary to what was recommended by the Robert Koch Institute - stipulating fixed case numbers, according to which learning should take place in small groups in a changing system or at a distance.
In their paper, the education ministers are now calling for models that will remain valid until Easter to ensure planning security for the schools.
In addition, the federal states announced for this year and next that they would increasingly seek help to compensate for the learning deficits, especially among disadvantaged students.
This included tuition and support offers during the holidays and in the afternoon, as well as an expansion of school social work.
The KMK intends to use rapid tests and a binding test strategy to ensure that employees at all schools can be tested at regular intervals.
In addition, more should be invested in infection and health protection in the classrooms.
The federal chairman of the Association of Education and Upbringing (VBE), Udo Beckmann, nevertheless criticizes the fact that not all efforts are currently being made to ensure the health protection of school staff.
"Teachers are not equipped with medical masks and if they are, then in too few numbers," said Beckmann.
"A surge in new infections is not only accepted, it is actually provoked."
Chancellor Angela Merkel and the prime ministers of the federal states want to decide this Wednesday whether the corona shutdown will be extended beyond February 14.
Most daycare centers and schools, along with other facilities, have been closed since mid-December or only run in a kind of emergency operation.
According to Baden-Württemberg's Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann (Greens), it is undisputed that this cannot go on forever.
Daycare centers and elementary schools would have priority in the easing.
"There is a consensus on that between the Chancellor and Prime Minister," said Kretschmann.
But, he emphasized: "I don't see that we can already set dates." He thinks it is conceivable that the dates for easing are tied "strictly to incidences."
The individual federal states have so far implemented very different concepts in schools - and this could also be the case after the resolutions on Wednesday, because education in Germany is a state matter.
Saxony's minister of education Christian Piwarz (CDU) announced on Tuesday that primary schools and daycare centers in Saxony should reopen in restricted operations from next Monday.
For primary schools, however, the school attendance requirement is to be lifted for the time being.
Parents can thus decide for themselves whether to send their children to school.
In the interests of the children and families, it was decided to take this step.
The hygiene measures would continue to be upheld.
The regulation should apply throughout Saxony - also for those counties in which the seven-day incidence is currently still more than 100.
Restricted regular operation for elementary schools and daycare centers means that groups and classes must be strictly separated from one another.
"The children should not meet outside of the group and classrooms on the premises of the facility," it said.
A corresponding regulation already existed at the shutdown in spring 2020.
Countries go it alone
Hamburg's red-green Senate, on the other hand, rejects easing the corona requirements for the foreseeable future, and this attitude also affects schools.
Education Senator Ties Rabe (SPD) said he was assuming "that we will stay in the current mode until the March holidays - unless the Prime Minister's Conference resolves something very unusual."
Hamburg is the only federal state to have two weeks vacation from the beginning of March.
"To put the entire school system on a new footing before the holidays is only a sensible solution for everyone involved on paper," said Rabe.
Bavaria's Minister of Education, Michael Piazolo (Free Voters), in turn, announced after the KMK switch that it was quite conceivable that Bavaria would go its own way when it comes to school openings after the meeting of the prime ministers.
According to experts, the weeks of school closings could have far-reaching negative consequences for many students.
They not only lead to a loss of performance, but especially for children "from educationally disadvantaged classes", schools are often one of the most important social and emotional points of reference, said Andreas Schleicher, OECD Education Director.
For these schoolchildren and small children, for whom digital learning is not an alternative, the risks grow “disproportionately to the length of the lockdown”.
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