Enlarge image
Heinrich Heine secondary school in Hagen
Photo: Alex Talash / dpa
How good is infection protection in Germany's schools?
Can children and young people sit in the classroom with a clear conscience without having to worry about being infected with the coronavirus?
Or not?
There are heated debates about these questions in the course of the »fourth wave« and great uncertainty because of the omicron variant.
Parents, teachers, students and many others disagree.
On a small scale, the dispute is currently coming to a head at a secondary school in Hagen in North Rhine-Westphalia - which in turn is fueling the debate on the Internet.
Fear of contagion - 13-year-old does not want to go into the classroom
A 13-year-old student in Hagen has been insisting on being taught outside since Monday.
The girl, a high-risk patient, is afraid of a corona infection and therefore does not want to be schooled with the other students from her class.
“There are children who aren't vaccinated and don't follow the rules.
And I no longer sit down in the same room with them, "the 13-year-old is quoted in the" Westfalenpost ", which took up the case as well as several other media outlets.
The seventh grader is ill and refuses to take classes with unvaccinated students despite having been vaccinated three times.
She also wants to set an example and "to point out grievances around the school corona measures," as it says in a tweet from her school.
The secondary school had put the girl's table and chair in the schoolyard.
From there, despite the cold, it took classes online.
During the breaks or to warm up, the student used a free space in the building, as a spokesman for the city of Hagen said.
more on the subject
SPIEGEL education newsletter: What if Omikron paralyzes schools?
Because of Corona: In France, the school is closed for 10,000 classes
School administrators in the pandemic: Where is the corona manager? By Silke Fokken
Headmistress Corinna Osmann understands the 13-year-old, as she said in a WDR report.
"We notice with our children, that is, with many, that the pandemic is causing great worries about getting infected, infecting family members." This concern is very pronounced for the 13-year-old, "and I think it's important that she draws attention to it".
The youth welfare office finally got involved in the case.
"The protest is perhaps well-intentioned, but it is about a 13-year-old child who sits outside in wind and weather and does not see the whole thing," said Reinhard Goldbach, head of the city's youth and social affairs department, to which the youth welfare office belongs , according to "Westfalenpost".
According to its own statements, out of concern for health, the city suggested a statement from the school psychological service, so that the school would be given a basis to enable distance learning.
Long-term instruction in the school yard raises the question of "health protection and child welfare," said city spokesman Michael Kaub.
You are in contact with the family who are willing to cooperate.
Compromise in sight - distance teaching in school
A compromise became apparent on Thursday: The 13-year-old should take part in classes online in a separate room within the school building, according to the spokesman, who had consulted the school.
One understands the child's worries.
It is a "certain balancing act".
A spokesman for the district government emphasized that the right to school education should be implemented in a "defensible, appropriate and sensible manner" even in times of pandemics: "This will have to be closely monitored - with care, understanding, but also consistency."
At other levels, the debate is intense and sometimes irreconcilable: especially between those for whom health protection in schools does not go far enough and those who consider protective measures to be either sufficient and / or school closings and distance learning to be the greater evil.
The case from Hagen polarized.
On Twitter, for example, the student found extensive support under the hastag #yasmin. Some users were "deeply impressed by the courage", the student, some even recommended other young people to imitate the action. Others saw the girl's fear as "completely exaggerated" and as a particular example of an out-of-hand debate about protection against infections and vaccinations. Some thought that the child was being instrumentalized.
The North Rhine-Westphalian state student council praised the 13-year-old's action: "But it is also an indictment that such an action is needed," said board member Johanna Börgermann.
In view of the rapidly increasing number of infections, there must be alternating lessons - and it must finally be ensured that online lessons also work at home.
Some teachers' associations had recently also questioned face-to-face teaching.
The chairman of the Association for Education and Upbringing (VBE), Udo Beckmann, had told the editorial network Germany: "I warn those in political responsibility against glossing over the risk situation for children in view of the omicron variant in the corona pandemic."
In North Rhine-Westphalia and many other countries, attendance is currently mandatory.
The state government defends its concept with several protective measures, which it tightened again shortly after the Christmas holidays.
A mask requirement applies.
Depending on the type of school, corona tests are carried out two to three times a week.
Classroom teaching has top priority, it says in a school mail, "so that educational opportunities can be ensured and psychosocial consequential damage in children, adolescents and young adults can be prevented."
Fok / dpa
