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Ida-Ehre-Schule in Hamburg: "Where we used to have empty classrooms, today only individual students are in quarantine."
Photo: Daniel Reinhardt / picture alliance / dpa
SPIEGEL
: 25 classes in quarantine, 56 known cases of infection: A year ago, your school made headlines with a major corona outbreak and had to be temporarily closed.
How is the situation today?
Boutez
:
Back
then we had to switch completely to digital teaching.
Today we have very few cases in relation to the 1,300 students: around two per week, which are confirmed by a PCR test.
Where we used to have empty classrooms, today only individual students are in quarantine.
SPIEGEL
: That means you learned from the outbreak a year ago?
Boutez
: We have at least had experiences and we think they are good.
We now know that contacts can be minimized and tracked.
A year ago we had a diffuse infection process, that will probably not happen to us again today.
We will probably only know in January whether the plan will work.
But at the moment it looks like it.
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Minister of Education for Face-to-Face Teaching: "The Schools Must Stay Open"
SPEGEL
: How does that work exactly?
Boutez
: Like all schools, we have a very rigorous
regime
of self-testing with two to three tests a week before class.
And we pay attention to the distances and also minimize the contact time.
For example, the pupils do not play two hours of soccer in a double lesson of sport, but rather do different sports in which they are sometimes more and sometimes less close together.
We also wear masks and have a detailed tracking system of who is in contact with whom, when and for how long.
The class teachers not only write down who was sitting next to whom, but also under what conditions, such as whether the room was aired.
SPIEGEL
: That sounds like a lot of work.
Boutez
: That has become a well-established routine.
But yes, the administrative part is gigantic.
SPIEGEL
: The President of the German Teachers' Association, Heinz-Peter Meidinger, says the danger is immense that we will lose control of the pandemic in schools.
You don't sound that pessimistic.
Boutez
:
Having
a pandemic under control is a contradiction in
terms
.
I understand my colleague to mean that we must continue to influence those involved.
If we become unclear in our attitude, then the students do not adhere to the guidelines such as wearing a mask and keeping your distance.
And if we have a discussion about the rules instead of consent, then we have a problem.
In the public debate, the rules are sometimes called into question.
But you have to be consistent for children and young people.
Then at least we know what is going on at school.
After that and on the weekend of course not.
That's why we have to test.
SPIEGEL
: It almost sounds as if school is the safest place during the pandemic.
Boutez
: No, but it's good for society if we make it as safe as possible.
SPIEGEL
: Would you like more guidelines from politics?
Boutez
: Hamburg has very strict hygiene regulations, the mask requirement in schools still applies here, unlike in some other federal states.
It is good not to make hasty decisions here, but to hesitate for a moment.
Other federal states are now returning to the mask requirement.
But this back and forth is not a good idea for high school students.
I would like to have a clear step-by-step plan: what happens when, and uniformly across the country.
SPIEGEL
: Nationwide, the incidence among schoolchildren is currently particularly high, with 10 to 14-year-olds in the lead with a value of 354, which is more than twice as high as last winter. Is it still possible to send the children and young people to schools with a clear conscience?
Boutez
:
Fortunately
, I'm not a virologist, but rather look at it from an educational point of view.
And from that point of view, you even have to do it.
Otherwise the psychological damage is too great.
We are already noticing that the children and adolescents are having difficulty behaving in accordance with the rules;
they are restless, there are many conflicts, the schoolyard is an explosive place.
You absolutely need the contacts and the social learning to continue.
But of course there shouldn't be a discussion about less hygiene measures at the same time.
On the contrary, the school must be as safe as possible.
