Dealing with schools in Corona times is currently one of many hotly debated topics.
Many would like to see uniform rules, but so far it looks little like that.
Shortly before the next
Corona
summit,
associations are demanding clear decisions from politicians on how to proceed in schools.
At least one
minister of education
can envisage school openings for certain years.
Which concept will
Germany
choose?
Berlin -
Hardly any child thinks of school
during the
holidays
.
But the uncertainty could be even less popular.
Because so far neither students nor parents know what happens on
January 11th
.
Then the previous Corona decision by the federal and state governments ends - a new one is expected on January 5th.
The
lockdown
will be extended, but what will happen to the
schools
?
According to
information from the
Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung
, the states disagree on how educational institutions should be dealt with.
In the last
decision
it was
already
stated very generally: “In the period from December 16, 2020 to January 10, 2021, contacts are to be significantly restricted in schools.
During this time, children should be cared for at home whenever possible.
Therefore, during this period the schools are generally closed or the compulsory attendance is suspended. "
On the basis of these three sentences, each country could then find its own way.
Education
has long been a federal
controversial issue
, as it is one of the last political fields that the countries with determining sovereignty have left.
In Bavaria and Saxony the schools were closed before Christmas.
In Bremen, on the other hand, no more children had to appear, but the schools remained open anyway.
Schools in Corona times: Educational institutions should stay open for a long time - associations appeal
“Face-to-face teaching”
is the word that many have held up for so long.
"Keep schools open as long as possible" was the mantra.
Too great the damage to the children seen in closings.
And yet it turned out differently in the end - to the chagrin of some associations.
The
German Academy for Child and Adolescent Medicine
(DAKJ) and the
German Teachers' Association are
now appealing to politicians to make “schools safe places for students and teachers” and to take clear decisions.
Because: "School and education are among the basic needs of children", writes Secretary General of the DAKJ, Hans-Iko Huppertz in the declaration.
Among other things
, the
associations are calling for a
nationwide hygiene level
plan
that clearly defines what happens when, depending on the infection rate and age.
In this way, complete school closings should be avoided in the future.
In addition, infection protection in schools must be improved, for example through distance regulations, masks for teachers and rapid tests.
Fast school
openings
with concepts are also a challenge for psychologists, especially in view of the growing number of
“school refusers”
.
"After the first shutdown, we noticed a dramatic increase in the number of cases of refusal to attend school," said the chairwoman of the Association of School Psychologists Baden-Württemberg (LSBW), Nina Grossmann of the German Press Agency.
Students of any age get used to doing nothing, neglect their tasks and then feel overwhelmed when they return to school.
Schools / Corona: will the federal states find a common path?
So far there has been more of a disagreement
So far, politicians have been rather divided on how to proceed.
Most recently in the headlines, for example, the statement by the Baden-Württemberg Minister of Education,
Susanne Eisenmann
(CDU), daycare centers and elementary schools should definitely be open from January 11th.
Friedrich Merz
, who soon wants to prove himself at the CDU party convention,
rushed to her side
.
"Susanne Eisenmann has the courage to say something right, namely that the schools have to be reopened as soon as possible," he told the newspapers of the
Funke media group
.
"And it is also the political will of all those involved to go in this direction depending on the incidence situation."
Eisenmann's colleague from Bavaria is not yet so sure what will happen in the near future due to the high number of infections.
“
I think that
face-to-face lessons
for everyone on January 11th are unlikely,”
Michael Piazolo
(FW) recently told
Münchner Merkur
.
Then it's more of a hybrid between alternating and distance learning.
Because he also rules out an extension of the vacation.
Spahn, Lauterbach and Drosten: Better to keep schools closed a little longer
Health Minister
Jens Spahn
(CDU), who is currently receiving a lot of criticism about the corona vaccinations, has found an extension to be good.
"I think it is easier for everyone to have the schools a week longer than to open them and then be faced with debates again at some point in a few weeks," said Spahn on "RTL-Aktuell".
SPD health expert
Karl Lauterbach
also rules out normality in schools
.
A few days ago he told the
Rheinische Post:
“After the
lockdown
, there must be no return to regular classroom teaching.
Mask, airing plus 30 children are not possible, otherwise there is a risk of exponential growth in the number of infections. "
Virologist
Christian Drosten
repeatedly
emphasizes that there are also infections in schools
.
In mid-December, he shared a study from Oxford on Twitter that found the strong effects of school closings in the fight against the corona pandemic.
Chancellor
Angela Merkel
(CDU) said repeatedly that more should be listened to science.
But here lies the problem for politics at the same time: The school studies are still too different for clear guidelines to be discernible.
Modeling study on measures taken during the first wave.
Strong effect of school closings.
Mentioned as preprint in June podcast, now in Science @sciencemagazine.
https://t.co/PwxGWjVp2x And of course: there are other studies that do not find any effects of school closings.
- Christian Drosten (@c_drosten) December 15, 2020
Studies on corona in schools provide different results - what does politics decide?
A study director from Dresden, Reinhard Berner, Clinic Director of the Clinic and Polyclinic for Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine at the University Clinic, saw no evidence after a second study phase “that schools have developed into 'silent hotspots' of this
pandemic
. “He regards school closure as a last resort at best.
Complete school closings, hygiene measures, the suspension of compulsory attendance, extended holidays, digital lessons, alternating lessons, hybrid lessons or a mixture of these: All routes have advantages and disadvantages.
The weighing up could therefore take place at the
Corona summit on January 5th
.
Or there is again no uniform federal regulation and each federal state decides again what it thinks is right.
(cibo)