Corona: GEW and teachers' association warn of negligence in summer

Enlarge image

Protective mask at the school table: create all the conditions and instruments in summer to be able to react to all possible scenarios at schools in autumn

Photo: Michael Weber / imago images/Michael Weber

The Teachers' Association and the Education and Science Union (GEW) have warned against negligence when preparing for the Corona autumn.

Teachers' Association President Heinz-Peter Meidinger also criticized Federal Justice Minister Marco Buschmann and parts of his FDP in this context.

"It is very important for us that politicians create and provide all the prerequisites and instruments for this in the summer so that we can react quickly and effectively to all possible scenarios in the schools in the fall," said Meidinger of the "Rheinische Post" on Friday.

A sharp increase in infections means for schools, in addition to the individual health risk for students and teachers, in particular the renewed risk of high staff shortages, including the resulting lesson cuts and partial school closures.

This danger is increased by the decreasing vaccination protection and existing immunity gaps.

"We are therefore calling, in solidarity with the Conference of Health Ministers and the German Association of Cities, to create the legal basis for the mask requirement in schools, which may be necessary again, very quickly before the summer break of the Bundestag," said Meidinger.

This requires an extension and revision of the previous Infection Protection Act, which expires in September.

In the direction of the FDP, Meidinger said: “We have absolutely no understanding of the current position of the Federal Minister of Justice and parts of the FDP to postpone these necessary decisions until after the parliamentary summer break in late autumn.” The new school year begins in some federal states at the beginning of August .

more on the subject

Lots of money, little plan: The four reasons why the Corona catch-up program for schools could fizzle out An analysis by Miriam Olbrisch

The head of the Education and Science Union (GEW), Maike Finnern, told the editorial network Germany (Friday): "So that there is no hasty action again in the fall, the preparations must now be made and the legal basis created."

Buschmann only wants to decide on the rules for the fall after the planned scientific assessment of the corona protection measures.

At the end of June, a panel of experts is to present an evaluation of the measures.

"Between June 30 and the end of the summer break, we will discuss with the federal states what to do," Buschmann said on Wednesday on ARD.

The federal government also discussed this with the Prime Ministers' Conference.

"I don't understand why some people now think that this timetable is no longer worth anything."

Increase in infections already expected in summer

According to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), a renewed increase in corona infections in Germany is possible as further omicron subtypes spread.

It is expected that the subvariants named BA.4 and B.5 will spread more, "so that there can be an overall increase in the number of infections and a renewed increase in infection pressure on vulnerable groups of people as early as summer," the RKI warned in its weekly report Covid-19 from Thursday.

Seasonal effects - which actually slow down the virus a bit - could not compensate for the spread of these variants if rules of conduct are no longer observed.

On Wednesday, the Federal Government’s Corona Expert Council also called for comprehensive preparations by the federal and state governments for a new wave of pandemics in autumn.

For this, a "solid legal basis for infection protection measures is needed in order to be able to react quickly to the infection process," according to the published recommendation.

The experts also call for special attention to be paid to children and young people: Tests in schools and day-care centers should be limited to symptomatic cases and only carried out regularly if new and dangerous variants occur, and CO2 measurements in classrooms should be carried out become mandatory to indicate when ventilation is required.

sun/dpa