Christmas break ended - students back in class

Created: 01/03/2022Updated: 01/03/2022, 2:54 PM

A girl wears a mask in class in a primary school in Frankfurt (Oder).

© Patrick Pleul / dpa-Zentralbild / dpa

School is starting again in many federal states.

Politicians stick to their statement to ensure that classroom teaching is as possible.

Pediatricians support that.

Berlin - After the Christmas holidays, schoolchildren returned to classes in several federal states on Monday.

Schools in other countries will resume operations in the coming days.

This is accompanied by concerns about the dreaded omicron wave.

Federal Education Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger (FDP) reiterated the goal of keeping schools open.

The professional association of paediatricians called on politicians to keep their promises.

On Monday, the schools in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Brandenburg, Berlin, Saxony and Rhineland-Palatinate opened their doors again.

In Berlin - except for vaccinated students - there is initially a daily test obligation.

Saarland will follow on Tuesday, Hamburg on Wednesday and - depending on the decision of the schools - Thuringia will follow.

According to current plans, the other half of the federal states will resume schools in the coming week.

The responsible ministers of education in the federal states will hold a video conference on Wednesday to discuss how to proceed. The results are likely to flow into the talks between the Prime Ministers of the federal states and Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) on Friday, where possible further measures in connection with the feared Omikron wave will be discussed. In the past few months, the ministers of education had always spoken out in favor of keeping schools open.

Area-wide closings are no longer possible after changes to the Infection Protection Act by the traffic light parties.

Thuringia therefore had to withdraw the plan to start the new year with distance learning.

Education Minister Helmut Holter (left), who wanted to “get ahead of the wave”, is now leaving it up to the schools in Thuringia to decide how they want to proceed: “Because I, as a ministry, cannot decide that, I have delegated this to the schools.

And I know that it means another burden on the school management, ”he said on Monday on Deutschlandfunk.

"A question of equal opportunities"

Federal Education Minister Stark-Watzinger reaffirmed her position: "Classroom teaching is a question of equal opportunities," wrote the FDP politician on Twitter.

“We have to do everything we can to keep schools open.

A good and safe start to all students, parents and teachers! ”The chairman of the Bundestag Education Committee, Kai Gehring (Greens), tweeted:“ Most learning is easier with face-to-face lessons than at a distance.

That is why it is important to keep schools open - with tests, masks, vaccinations, air filters. "

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The professional association of paediatricians called for schools to continue operating even with the corona numbers rising. There are a number of ways to avoid school closings despite the pandemic situation, said association president Thomas Fischbach of the "Ärzte Zeitung" (online). "There is a clear and unequivocal commitment from politicians to consider school closings - if at all - as the very last measure," said Fischbach. "We insist on this promise."

North Rhine-Westphalia's Prime Minister Hendrick Wüst expressed himself in the ARD “Morgenmagazin”.

In North Rhine-Westphalia, where the holidays last until the end of the week, the course continues to apply: "We want children to have lessons as long as it is justifiable - if possible in attendance, if possible in class," said the head of government.

“Children shouldn't suffer again.

You have already suffered too much in this pandemic. "

The German Child Protection Association was critical of the strict insistence on classroom teaching.

“It cannot be a solution to insist on classroom teaching under all circumstances,” President Heinz Hilgers told the “Rheinische Post”.

dpa