No more individual evaluations of pool tests at schools in NRW: school minister under fire because of corona pool tests

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The FDP Minister Gebauer is asked to resign on Twitter.

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Federico Gambarini / dpa

The test laboratories in North Rhine-Westphalia are overloaded. That's why Lolli PCR tests are no longer evaluated individually at primary schools. If the pool sample of an entire class or study group is positive, the children should be smeared with a rapid antigen test at school the following day. Alternatively, they can present a negative test result at a public testing station. This is what NRW School Minister Yvonne Gebauer (FDP) announced by school email late Tuesday evening. Implementation: the next morning.

Parents, teachers and the opposition in the Düsseldorf state parliament are appalled. On Twitter, numerous users are calling for the minister's resignation. »No wonder that many schools today symbolically hoist the white flag. They feel left alone," rants the Green parliamentary group leader in the state parliament, Josephine Paul. "Why weren't you prepared?" asks the SPD parliamentary group leader Thomas Kutschaty in the direction of Yvonne Gebauer. "That's no respect for our teachers."

"Once again, the students and teachers have to take into account the unsecured test infrastructure," says Ayla Çelik, chairwoman of the teachers' union GEW in North Rhine-Westphalia.

Parents and employees do not understand why children with a positive pool test result should go to school.

»This procedure means accepting further infections and the spread of the virus.«

Gebauer defended the new approach in an interview with WDR.

"It was simply necessary to make quick changes to the test system here," said the FDP politician.

At the same time, she regrets that this "has resulted in further burdens for the school management, but also for the teachers and in particular for the families." She "wished it differently," said Gebauer in the interview.

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