School despite Corona: Giffey pushes back - teacher president wants new hygiene rules for students

Do daycare centers and schools open after Pentecost? Minister of Education Giffey advocates a full return to normal operations.

• In the corona crisis *, educational institutions are required to be particularly flexible.
• Politicians, the teachers 'association and the parents' council are working on a concept for the coming school year.
• However, an infectious medical doctor is now proposing to abolish the distance rules in schools - even before the summer holidays.
• Here you will find the basic facts about the corona virus * and the corona news from Germany. We also offer you the current number of cases in Germany on a map. The following recommendations for Corona protective measures * are currently available.
  
• You can find all previous developments around schools in Corona times here.

Update of June 6:  Minister of Education Franziska Giffey spoke on Friday that many students could switch back to normal operation after Pentecost holidays . Heinz-Peter Meidinger , the President of the German Teachers' Association , therefore called for the introduction of some new hygiene rules in schools. This included a general mask requirement for students during class , as Meidinger told the Bild newspaper. "However, proper tuition makes it difficult," he added. 

Meidinger said that the prerequisite for this was the highest possible level of health protection for teachers, students and the relatives in their households. For this, classes and learning groups would have to be separated completely and throughout the school day. Meidinger also proposed extensive, regular corona tests for teachers and students, as well as emergency plans in the event of increasing infections.

Heinz-Peter Meidinger, Federal Chairman of the German Association of Philologists.

© dpa / Armin Weigel

Corona crisis in school: Giffey for return to normality

Update from June 5th: Mask requirement and distance rules caused an unfamiliar everyday school life before Pentecost holidays . After the holidays, normality could return to many students. At least the Minister of Education supports Franziska Giffey (SPD) .

Provided that the number of infections continues to be low * , it is conceivable to abolish the existing distance rules in schools and day care centers . "Then the 1.5-meter distance rule can no longer be adhered to, " notes Giffey, thinking of a complete return to normal operation.

Corona virus: Distance rule cannot be maintained in schools - return to normal operation planned

However, the countries make confident decisions about implementation. However, plans to abolish the strict corona measures already exist. 

In Hessen, the usual five-day week in schools is to be resumed on August 17th . Spacing rules would then be overturned, a spokesman for the education ministry told the Bild newspaper (article behind pay barrier).

The Hamburg Senate is also aiming for regular school operations again. However, this is only possible if the distance rule falls , the school authority warns. Those responsible from Brandenburg and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania have a similar opinion. "After all, it's about the right to education and the right to social participation of children and young people, " said Brandenburg's Minister of Education Britta Ernst (SPD).

Thuringia even wants to start "restricted regular operation" on June 15th . In North Rhine-Westphalia all primary schools should start teaching normally again at the same time. 

The state ministers of culture had agreed to offer normal education again as soon as possible. At the latest after the summer holidays , the numbers allow all German schools and daycare centers to be back in normal everyday life.

By the way: In the wake of the Corona crisis, the poll values ​​of Bavaria's prime minister rose sharply. Now he is treated as a possible candidate for chancellor. CDU top politician Friedrich Merz has now made it clear what he thinks of it. 

Despite Corona: school without distance rules before the summer holidays? The recommendation of an infectious medicine specialist is stunned

Update of June 1st: Schools are gradually opening again - but there can be no question of normal operation: mask requirement * and distance rules shape the everyday life of those who are at school and many students are not yet allowed to return. A Kiel infectious medic came to the conclusion, however, that it would be a good time for school classes to be reintroduced without distance rules just before the summer holidays . 

Schools in the Corona Crisis: Expert considers lessons without distance rules to be justifiable

"The previously successful containment of the virus makes this justifiable and you can gain experience in the few weeks until the holidays, take countermeasures in dangerous situations and have the long holiday as a temporary safety buffer," explained Helmut Fickenscher, Director of the Institute for Infectious Medicine at the University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein Holstein and President of the German Association for Combating Viral Diseases in conversation with the German Press Agency. 

A start without distance rules before the big summer break is better than to start the new school year without such a test phase after the holidays without distance rules and then possibly get into "difficult situations", said the infectious medic. From June 8th in Schleswig-Holstein all elementary school students should be taught in their classes again without distance rules . In addition, before the summer vacation beginning there on June 29, all students from all types of school should come back together at least on a daily basis. Also Saxony-Anhalt is aiming from mid-June for elementary school students to operate in full class size at. The same is planned in Baden-Württemberg from the end of June. 

Regular corona tests are also carried out at some schools - such as here at a high school in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.

© dpa / Bernd Wüstneck

Schools in the Corona crisis: Minister of Education Karliczek puts pressure on

Update from May 30, 2020: Many parents - but also schoolchildren - are longing for a bit of normality in school life. Minister of Education Anja Karliczek (CDU) is now putting pressure. It has urged countries and schools to create the conditions for reliable teaching after the summer vacation . 

"Every school in every country has to set a goal: After the holidays, structured instruction must be offered everywhere - in such a way that a full school program is guaranteed as far as possible," said the CDU politician at the Rheinische Post . "Anyway." The parents were often at the limit, and the students also suffered, said Karliczek.

Schools in the Corona Crisis: Karliczek calls for intensive work on solutions

The Minister admitted that she knew about the difficulties. "But we just live in an exceptional situation and everything has to be mobilized now so that the children and young people can be reliably taught again." On site, intensive work has to be done on solutions so that school operations "with a mixture of face-to-face and digital lessons " can run again comprehensively.

“The summer holidays can also be used by schools to create more space, for example by setting up containers,” said Karliczek. She also welcomed the proposal of the Federal Parent Council to use club houses and communal event rooms for teaching . "This can help to keep the distance rules."

School policy is a national issue in Germany. Representatives of several federal states had already announced that they would return to normal school operations after the summer holidays. Bavaria's Minister of Culture Michael Piazolo (free voters), for example, recently did not want to give a "guarantee".

Schools in the Corona Crisis: Parents want classes in club houses and exhibition halls

First registration: Berlin - How will the lessons of the future work ? In Corona times, a viable concept was struggled to make schools accessible to all classes at the same time. Now there are first plans.

For example, the Federal Parents' Council proposes that classes in clubhouses, conference centers and municipal buildings be offered for equalization and compliance with the distance rules in schools for the period after the summer holidays . The first reactions to this have been positive. The German Association of Cities and Municipalities was open to this, as did the German Teachers' Association.

Will there be classes soon? According to plans by parents and teachers, club homes could house classrooms after the summer holidays.

© dpa / Carsten Rehder

Schools in the corona crisis: regular operations are not possible everywhere after the summer break

Even in the new school year, school operations will not be able to take place in regular operations everywhere, said the managing director of the Association of Cities and Municipalities, Gerd Landsberg, the German Press Agency . In order to avoid infections, the distance and hygiene rules must be observed as far as possible .

"Depending on the situation on site, it can make sense to let part of the school work in larger rooms by clubs or other facilities ." Landsberg pointed out that the spatial situation in many school buildings is often unfavorable with regard to the distance rules. "However, the holidays should be used to optimize the rooms in terms of ventilation, sanitary facilities and other hygiene requirements * ."

Schools in the Corona Crisis: Will Teaching in Exhibition Halls Soon?

The chairman of the Federal Parents' Council , Stephan Wassmuth, had asked the newspapers of the Funke media group to organize more classrooms for the period after the summer holidays. "We have to assume that the distance rules will continue to apply even after the holidays." Wassmuth spoke in favor of also using club houses, municipal event rooms, conference centers or even exhibition halls .

The President of the German Teachers' Association , Heinz-Peter Meidinger supports the proposal. In many communities there are vacant houses that are not being used, he told the dpa . Also outdoor teaching , for example, in the courtyards of the schools could be an option as long as the weather cooperates.

Could also imagine teaching outdoors: As President of the German Teachers' Association, Heinz-Peter Meidinger is working on a school concept for the time during the Corona crisis.

© dpa / Armin Weigel

Schools in the Corona crisis: calls for regular tests

"But that's certainly not the big overall solution, " said Meidinger. He called for a new concept for the post-vacation period from the state education ministers. In his opinion, this should also include regular corona tests * by teachers and students .

The Union Group chairman Ralph Brinkhaus called for a rapid return to normal operation in schools, day care centers and kindergartens. The closure of the CDU politician told the “Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland” (RND / Saturday) that there were greater differences between children from educationally and non-educational families . The burden on the families is also problematic. "That is why we have to quickly get back to normal school life and regular childcare in kindergartens and kindergartens," said Brinkhaus.

The education policy spokesman for the FDP parliamentary group, Thomas Sattelberger, said: "After the summer break, school must not degenerate into the same fiasco as it is now." Therefore, schools would have to plan in two ways during the summer holidays . Sattelberger called for "well thought-out solutions" for lessons at home and solutions for classroom instruction. In addition, the responsible education politicians would have to “urgently ensure” that larger rooms are rented as alternative solutions for lessons .

Schools in the Corona crisis: There is a lack of knowledge about the risk of infection in children

Representatives of several federal states had already announced that they would return to normal school operations after the summer holidays . Even before the holidays, some of them want to teach full classes at least at primary schools and do without distance rules. There is a lot of discussion about the possible spread * of the corona virus in daycare centers and schools . There is still no reliable knowledge about the risk of infection and spread among children and adolescents. Health minister Jens Spahn * (CDU) said that there was a study situation that did not allow any real conclusions to be drawn.

The President of the Conference of Ministers of Education for the Länder, the Rhineland-Palatinate Minister of Education, Stefanie Hubig (SPD), told the taz : There is an urgent desire in all federal states to return to greater normalcy . "Basically, our way is the same: If possible, normal operation should take place in the schools after the summer holidays." They will exchange ideas at the beginning of the next week.

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

dpa

List of rubric lists: © picture alliance / dpa / Daniel Karmann