Numerous parents from Eitting and the surrounding area voiced worries, fears and anger during the “Give the children a voice” campaign in front of the primary school and the municipal office.
The stumbling block were the increasingly tightening measures to combat the pandemic in schools.
Cabaret artist Monika Gruber was also there.
BY FABIAN HOLZNER
For this purpose, banners and signs with inscriptions such as “You are stealing our childhood”, “Right to education!” Or “No tests for healthy children” were placed in front of the building, with parents and students placing balloons, toys and sports equipment in between. Letters with concerns and demands to the Ministry of Education and the State Government were collected. Together with Eitting's mayor Reinhard Huber, they are to be passed on to District Administrator Martin Bayerstorfer. The organizers emphasized that around 350 adults and children took part directly and indirectly in the campaign, which is expressly about the well-being of the children and not about political sentiment.
In order to be able to adhere to the distance rules, the participation was spread over the Saturday. “It has been simmering for a long time because so much is imposed on the children, such as the seven hours of mask requirement in class. The compulsory test is now overflowing, ”said co-organizer Susanne Gruber, summarizing the motivation for the campaign. The participants did not speak out against the testing as a matter of principle, but the fact that this only happens after the morning school bus ride and not at home lacks any logic. And the parents' reactions to a possibly positive test could also be better absorbed by the parents at home than would be the case in the classroom, according to co-organizer Daniela Huber.
Those who have carried out the unpleasant procedure on themselves three times a week still have to follow the shortened lessons with mask, distance and regularly open windows - in the eyes of many parents excessive measures and harmful for the children. "Actually, there is no longer any school in the school," said the prospective trainee teacher Judith Börner, who expressed her solidarity.
Various classes have been experiencing a complete failure of face-to-face classes for months, Susanne Gruber reported about her son, who had only been at school for one day since December. She won her sister-in-law, cabaret artist Monika Gruber, for the protest. “I want to focus on the children, they don't have a lobby at the moment,” she said, recalling children and adolescents with illnesses such as eating disorders. In these cases, those affected would suffer particularly badly from the measures, fear and isolation. “They are also corona victims, but nobody talks about them.” Regarding the corona measures, the cabaret artist said: “We have had time to change something for a year, but it's only getting worse. People need a light at the end of the tunnel. "
The organizers agreed: “We do not doubt that we have to find a way out of the pandemic. But we demand more lessons and more trust in the parents. ”In other federal states, parents test their children themselves.