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Elementary school classroom
Photo: Michael Taeger / imago images / Jan Huebner
According to the President of the Conference of Ministers of Education, Britta Ernst (SPD), all students should be able to go to school again in March.
"At the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs we are in agreement: We want all pupils to go to school again in March - even if it will usually first be alternating classes," Ernst told the editorial network in Germany.
Every week that students can go to school is important.
"Even if we have a different situation due to the virus mutation, we cannot wait several more weeks," said Ernst, who is the education minister in Brandenburg.
The school closings would have too high a social price.
"The alternating lessons in particular make it very easy to keep distances," Ernst told the papers.
Children and young people would suffer greatly if their contacts were restricted.
"That is why it is clear to me that we not only have to open the elementary schools, but also at least have to switch to secondary schools," said the SPD politician.
Rapid tests should also help when returning to schools.
Ernst also calls for a Digital Pact II with which the federal government supports the states on a permanent basis in matters of digitization and schools.
"The ongoing investments to keep our schools permanently up-to-date in terms of digitization cannot be made by the federal states and municipalities alone," said Ernst, justifying the demand.
"The federal government must continue to get involved - and to a considerable extent." The School Digital Pact came into force in May 2019.
By 2024, the federal government will provide five billion euros to equip schools with new technology.
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