Coronavirus: decision on Abitur exams 2020 made - new turning point in NRW

The corona virus messes things up all over the world. Now also the Abitur. Students from NRW can now plan.

• The Coronavirus * also affects the Abitur in Germany.
• The date has already been postponed in Bavaria and other federal states.
• Could there be an Abi without exams?
• Here you will find the basic facts about the corona virus and the corona news from Germany. You can also find current case numbers in Germany as a map.
  

Update from March 27, 2:00 p.m .: The Abitur exams in North Rhine-Westphalia will be postponed for three weeks. On May 12, the possibly final act of their school career will begin for the 88,000 prospective high school graduates. This was announced by school minister Yvonne Gebauer (FDP) on Friday in Düsseldorf.

This gave the students planning security. This should ensure the best possible preparation for your exams. "The tests will of course take place with special attention to infection protection. The health of our teachers and students is our top priority, ”explains Gebauer.

Coronavirus: Students should receive grades by June 27th

The last exam date is scheduled for Monday, May 25th . If pupils are unable to keep the main date, there will be a central follow-up appointment for those cases afterwards, says Gebauer.

Despite the postponed exams, the school leaving certificates should be issued by June 27 at the latest. This would give the students their final grade as intended. This is made possible by a greatly shortened correction period. In addition, the bridge day after Ascension Day is used for the exams, said the FDP politician.

There will therefore be no choice for a high school diploma with or without exams. After all, there is no fairer Abitur than the one that comes with exams, explains Gebauer. The state student council had previously requested such an option.

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Coronavirus: decision on high school exams 2020 made - ministers agree

Update of March 25, 3:39 pm: The ministers of culture of the federal states have agreed that the Abitur exams will take place in Germany in 2020 . This was confirmed by Stefanie Hubig, President of the Conference of Ministers of Culture, after a conference call with the other Ministers of Culture on Wednesday. The tests should be written everywhere by the end of the school year, "as far as this is permitted for reasons of infection protection" . All students should have their results by the end of the summer vacation. The decision was made unanimously, it said.

The decision of the ministers of culture now affects all exams, i.e. in addition to the Abitur exams, for example, the exams for the middle degree after the tenth grade. In principle, exams can also take place in closed schools.

Abitur in Corona: Effects on Exam Questions

However, there will be deviations between the federal states with regard to the date and the examination content. Although the exams should start on April 21, two follow-up dates have already been set (one in May and one in June).

The respective test dates would be announced well in advance so that the students could prepare, it was said. The exams could also be written in closed schools. In the exams, the federal states could also replace tasks from the central pool of exam questions with decentralized tasks.

The corona restrictions largely paralyze life in Germany. But how long will the coronavirus measures be maintained?

Corona crisis: Abitur exams 2020 are taking place

Update from March 25, 3:07 p.m .: The Abitur exams 2020 are to take place. The Corona crisis apparently has nothing to oppose the Abitur. A nationwide agreement was probably reached at a conference of the ministers of culture . Students do not have to expect the final exams to be canceled, reports focus.de. At the present time, this step is not necessary, the ministers said.

No nationwide agreements had previously been reached. The Minister of Education of Schleswig-Holstein caused trouble. At first she wanted to cancel the exams completely.

Abi 2020 in times of the corona crisis: Schleswig-Holstein wants to cancel

Update from March 24, 3.35 p.m .: Due to the corona crisis, the Abitur exams in 2020 could not only be postponed - they could even be omitted entirely. Schleswig-Holstein's Minister of Education Karin Prien has now spoken in favor of this. That reports ntv .

Accordingly, Prien wants to present a corresponding draft resolution to the cabinet on Wednesday. In addition to the Abitur, the exams for the first general education and the middle school qualification should not take place.

Coronavirus: Abitur without exam? Teachers' association surprises with an idea for the final grade

First report from March 24th:

Munich - It's a time that students across Germany approach with mixed feelings: the Abitur phase. On the one hand, fear that you may not pass the exams, on the other hand, anticipation, because after passing the exams you tie a loop around school and start a new phase of life.

But everything seems different this year. The reason? The corona virus *, which is currently turning everything upside down. In Bavaria it has already led to the postponement of the Abitur exams. Other federal states also postponed their Abitur in the calendar. But now there could be a novelty .

High school exams in coronavirus times: "Depending on how the corona situation develops ..."

"Depending on how the corona situation develops, the exams can simply be carried out a little later," said Lin-Klitzing, chair of the interest group for the high school teachers. But when is later is currently not foreseeable. If it is not possible to write the Abitur later, there are other options. And the majority of the pupils could be happy about these opportunities.

High school exams during the Corona crisis: high school without exam?

Two thirds of the Abitur grades are usually earned in the last two school years by grades in the respective courses. Combined with the last third - namely the Abitur exams - that makes up the overall grade.

"However, we do not need to force the Abitur exams for this," says Lin-Klitzing and further, "We could also calculate this grade from the previous written tests in the examination subjects." And, conversely, like Lin-Klitzing: "We can, if necessary, get a high school diploma without own high school exams . "

Abitur without exam: chance or disadvantage?

How the Abitur grade is calculated in detail, however, has so far been unclear and will probably only be made public in the event of all cases. The model "Abitur without examination" is nevertheless questionable. If a majority of them are happy about it, a small remainder of the students will certainly not agree with it.

After all, there were no uniform tasks for all students nationwide. Maybe one or the other does not achieve the cut he had hoped for. After all, they did not prepare for the exams, which are then to be assessed, with the knowledge that they will count entirely as an Abitur grade.

Stefanie Hubig , President of the Conference of Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs (KMK) regards the school leaving examination as certain and said: "In the event that final exams cannot be carried out at all, there will be a corresponding regulation that ensures mutual recognition ." A disadvantage The Corona crisis should never arise for the students.

Petition in Hamburg: students are in favor of a failure of the Abitur exams

In the meantime, two students from Hamburg have started a petition regarding the nationwide cancellation of the Abitur exams in view of the corona pandemic *. Instead, this year, every student in Germany should receive a so-called average high school diploma, according to the petition addressed, among other things, to Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU), Hamburg Mayor Peter Tschentscher (SPD) and numerous state ministers of education.

An average of the 32 to 40 semester results of the past four half-years to be contributed should be calculated and specified as a graduation grade.

In Ireland , meanwhile, the oral exams have been canceled. The written ones are still pending. Ireland also has mixed opinions about the decision, as The Irish Times reported.

An optimistic future researcher is now drawing attention to the fact that the current decommissioning of society can also have positive effects for our society.

* merkur.de is part of the nationwide Ippen-Digital editors network

List of rubric lists: © dpa / Felix Kästle