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Because of the corona pandemic, many classrooms in Germany remain empty (symbol picture).
Photo: Kay Nietfeld / dpa
For a good four months, schoolchildren in many cities and districts have been sitting at home either entirely or in phases.
There are children who have never seen the inside of their school this year.
And that will probably stay that way for the time being in many places.
The Hamburg Senator for Education Ties Rabe (SPD) said in an interview with the Hamburger Abendblatt that he does not believe that the children in his city will fully return to their classrooms in the months that remain until the summer vacation.
"Under the current framework, we have to expect that it will remain with alternate classes."
You could also put it this way: The current school year is lost.
The little ones in particular need classroom instruction
Of course, most of them go to great lengths to somehow manage the learning between the kitchen table and living room couch: Parents, teachers and the children and young people themselves have to demonstrate their improvisational talent, perseverance and frustration tolerance week after week in order to survive in the everyday pandemic. Even the technology is no longer as jerky as it was a year ago.
Nonetheless, experts agree: Face-to-face teaching is irreplaceable on long-haul routes, especially for younger students.
Far too often the children sit in front of black screens because the servers collapse as soon as everyone turns on the camera.
It is quite possible that some of the youngest children have now forgotten how to learn - some of them have now spent more time studying at home than in school.
But the pandemic will also leave its mark on the elderly.
The motivation disappears
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On the one hand, there is the motivation to learn.
According to a recent survey by the Munich Ifo Institute among around 2000 parents, schoolchildren in the second lockdown spent an average of 4.3 hours per day on school activities.
That is almost three quarters of an hour more than when the school first closed around a year ago - but still three hours less than on a normal school day before the start of the pandemic.
For comparison: the children spent an average of 4.6 hours a day on computer games, television and mobile phones.
Federal tutoring program comes later
Second, there are the learning gaps.
The billion-dollar tutoring program that Federal Education Minister Anja Karliczek (CDU) wanted to push so quickly so that children can catch up on the missed material is postponed until autumn.
The families are currently too stressful, "that's why we shouldn't give them additional tasks now," said the minister in the Bundestag last week.
In addition, one does not know how big the learning deficit actually is with the children.
The federal states should first raise that, said the minister.
And, whoosh, more months are moving into the country.
We have no more time to lose, as education experts, state leaders and the Federal Chancellor emphasize almost every day.
Think about the coming school year now - and take advantage of the summer vacation
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If this school year can no longer be saved, then it is high time to think about the coming one - and now.
Last year there was already criticism that politics and administration had neglected to use the summer holidays to get the schools fit for the following weeks and months under the sign of the pandemic.
To this day, there is a lack of ventilation systems in many schools, a sufficient number of wash basins (with soap and towels!), Disinfectants, and a reliable test concept.
The German educational infrastructure is still not corona resistant.
Equipping schools, closing learning gaps
Those responsible in the federal, state and local governments should use the coming summer holidays to finally take the necessary measures: equipping and converting the classrooms, developing a concept of how testing can be reliably integrated into everyday school life - and drawing up a timetable, like children and young people can catch up on missed school material.
There are plenty of ideas for this: a Berlin school opens on Saturdays and invites children to do cramming on a voluntary basis.
Hamburg would like to send student teachers to schools in the afternoons to work as mentors with weaker students.
Several federal states offer so-called "learning holidays": Here children and young people work in small groups on what they missed.
Those responsible should also look at the teachers.
Because there is still a big gap between those who are excessively involved in pandemic operations and therefore slowly burn out, and those who tend to make less effort.
While some are available around the clock for their students, do online lessons, correct assignments and have an open ear even in the event of grief, others send a worksheet once a week without comment in the worst case.
In the ifo study, 39 percent of parents stated that their child had had online lessons with classmates at most once a week.
Summer holidays shouldn't be a breather
School management and ministries of education should finally develop binding minimum standards for home teaching for the new school year.
It should also be helpful for teachers to know what is expected of them - and what is not.
The summer vacation should not be a breather for the school decision-makers. Because, let's not kid ourselves: Even if more and more people are vaccinated, Corona will probably not be history by the end of the summer holidays.
