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Czech Prime Minister Babis: "Ready to learn new things?"
Photo: Ondrej Deml / imago images / CTK Photo
The starting conditions for the Abitur have never been as different as this year.
More than usual, how well students are prepared for the final exams depends on where they live.
Does the school offer good distance learning?
Do the teachers check the completed tasks, do they also phone their students afterwards if necessary?
And does the internet even work at home?
Student representatives in Germany have therefore already called for the Abitur to be canceled this year.
This discussion is now also fueling the Czech head of government: Andrej Babis has spoken out in favor of skipping the Abitur examination due to the Corona crisis.
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In a social media video that more than 12,000 people had seen by Monday afternoon, he questioned the importance of the school leaving examination.
As an entrepreneur with 35,000 employees, he never asked about graduating from high school during job interviews, said the multi-billionaire.
Instead, he asked questions like: "Are you ready to learn new things?" Or "What are your goals?"
The 66-year-old asked for the average grade to be used for the Abitur this year.
While student representatives have long been calling for relief because of the distance teaching that has been going on for months, there has also been criticism, for example from professors.
The Ministry of Education emphasized that no final decision had yet been made about this year's Abitur, which is called »maturita« in the Czech Republic.
The EU member state with around 10.7 million inhabitants is severely affected by the corona crisis.
There have been more than 1.3 million infections and 21,882 deaths since the pandemic began.
The UK has already canceled the final exams this year.
Because of the corona crisis, exams in schools are not possible, said the British Minister of Education.
In Germany, the examinations for the secondary school leaving certificate were canceled in some federal states this year.
The ministers of education continue to adhere to the Abi exams.
In many countries, however, this has been postponed by a few days or weeks in order to gain additional learning time.
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kha / dpa