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Welcome event for freshmen in Stuttgart (archive image)
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In the discussions about the effects of Corona on the education system, the focus should finally be on the students.
This is what Matthias Anbuhl, Secretary General of the Deutsches Studentenwerk (DSW), demands.
"It is high time that the federal and state governments took a closer look at the social situation of the students in their joint pandemic policy," said Anbuhl before the meeting of the heads of government with Chancellor Scholz on Monday.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, the students have “behaved in absolute solidarity with the vulnerable groups in our society;
They have a vaccination rate that is well above average and have already completed three purely online semesters and the hybrid winter semester 2021/2022 without complaint," Anbuhl told SPIEGEL.
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In the meantime, however, the corona-related burdens can be felt everywhere in the students' lives: "Many of them have to struggle with social isolation and loneliness, especially since many universities have now switched all or a large part of their teaching to online again because of the omicron wave."
»The time is overripe for an honest analysis«
The DSW Secretary General is therefore calling for a federal-state university summit as soon as possible.
"The federal and state governments must discuss the situation of the 2.9 million students in Germany and tackle the problems in an open dialogue with all university stakeholders - the universities themselves, the students, the student unions," said Anbuhl.
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The fifth pandemic semester begins in the summer, "and the time is overripe for an honest problem analysis and position determination".
Whether the universities remain present or open digitally sometimes differs from seminar to seminar.
The students, but also the student unions, need more planning security here.
"Just as students rightly receive political attention in the debate about education in the pandemic, political attention must now also be directed to higher education," Matthias Anbuhl continued.
Many students have the feeling of being overlooked and forgotten by politicians - the federal and state governments should finally give an answer to that.
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