Next Corona summit on Friday: What are the federal and state governments planning for schools?

Created: 01/07/2022, 05:18 AM

By: Patrick Freiwah

School lessons apart from the corona pandemic: What is the next step of the ministries of education?

© Frank Hoermann / SVEN SIMON / Imago

When the federal and state governments announce the further course with regard to Corona on Friday, it will also be informative for millions of students and their parents.

All information in the news ticker.

Berlin / Munich - The next Corona summit * is due on January 7th to provide information on how to proceed in the fight against the pandemic.

Against the background of the expected wave of Omikron, an increase in the number of infections is expected nationwide. 

When new guidelines are communicated to the public after the federal-state meeting on Friday, the subject of schools also plays an important role.

In advance, representatives of several federal states made it clear that large-scale school closings would not be an option.

Corona summit on Friday: changes to quarantine in schools are on the way

An important point with which politicians reportedly want to reduce the risk of infection in educational institutions in Germany are instead simplified quarantine rules *. Hesse's minister of education, Alexander Lorz, calls for a reduction in the quarantine times with a view to the upcoming corona crisis discussion: "With 11 million students nationwide and 800,000 teachers across Germany, schools are part of the critical infrastructure that must now be particularly protected," said the CDU -Politicians to the dpa. For safe face-to-face teaching despite the Omikron variant, everyone should now pull together, according to the coordinator for the CDU-governed countries in the Conference of Ministers of Education (KMK).

A similar statement came from the FDP federal chief and finance minister Christian Lindner.

He has spoken out in favor of moderate contact restrictions.

Everything must be done to prevent schools and companies from closing, he told the dpa on the sidelines of the traditional Liberals' three kings rally.

The education policy spokeswoman for the FDP parliamentary group, Ria Schröder, has also called for Omikron to keep the promise for open schools even if the corona numbers rise sharply.

The virus variant is a great burden because it spreads quickly and the high number of infections scared many people, Schröder told the dpa.

"However, the consequences of school closings are just as dramatic, only psychological and physical stress, domestic violence or learning deficits are initially invisible," she emphasized.

On Friday, the federal and state governments will discuss how to proceed in the pandemic via video conference.

Two days earlier - Wednesday, January 5th - the education ministers of the individual federal states discussed how to proceed.

New corona school rules from January 2022?

Hamburg is a prime example

In the middle of the week, classes are already running again in half of the federal states after the Christmas break. In Bavaria and Hesse, school will start again on Monday (January 10th). In Hamburg, the school has started with somewhat stricter infection protection measures: The new Corona school rules include three tests per week in the first two weeks of school after the end of the holiday, followed by two tests per week. In addition, employees are only allowed to enter schools if they have been vaccinated, recovered or tested. In addition, a mask requirement continues to apply in all school buildings. To do this, classrooms must be ventilated every 20 minutes. Mobile air filters also play a major role.

To what extent will decisions be made for the schools on Friday?

This is not legally possible because: The education system is completely in the hands of the respective federal states, that is, the procedure to be made known only has the character of an appeal, instead of the resolutions containing an obligation to implement. 

Markus Söder formulates a clear demand before the Bund-Länder-Round.

But a pediatrician criticizes Bavaria's new day-care center rule - and explains the danger posed by the Corona mutation Omikron *.