Daily tests at schools in Lower Saxony until the end of January

Created: 01/10/2022Updated: 01/10/2022, 6:29 PM

A man holds a rapid corona test in his hand.

© Fabian Strauch / dpa / symbol image

On Monday, children and young people in Lower Saxony had to go to school again.

One innovation was the obligation to wear a surgical mask.

Another rule was originally only intended for this week, but will now apply longer.

Hanover - Many of the around 1.1 million schoolchildren in Lower Saxony will have to prepare for a daily compulsory corona test before going to school in the coming weeks. The corresponding obligation should apply at least until the end of January, as Minister of Culture Grant Hendrik Tonne (SPD) said in a message distributed on Monday. "The assessment of the situation to be carried out at the end of the half-year will show how we determine the test interval at the start of the second half of the school year."

Since Monday, children and young people in Lower Saxony have had to go to school again - this is associated with a daily test obligation.

According to the Ministry of Culture, this does not apply if students have already been vaccinated against the coronavirus or have recovered from an infection.

According to previous plans, the compulsory test in the second week of school after the holidays should be reduced to three times a week.

This timing was already in effect in previous periods of the school year.

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No major change in corona rules foreseeable at the moment

According to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), 66.5 percent of 12 to 17-year-olds in the state have been vaccinated once against the coronavirus, around 60 percent have received the so-called basic immunization and 10.8 percent have received a booster vaccination.

In addition, according to the RKI, almost 53 700 children between five and eleven years of age are vaccinated in the state.

According to Tonne, there is still a voluntary test offer for vaccinated and recovered students.

These rules are good framework conditions for face-to-face teaching with as much normality as possible.

"Without prejudice to this, additional challenges can of course also arise for the school operation, should staff shortages arise at a school due to increased levels of illness, quarantine or self-isolation measures due to the Omikron variant."

The minister announced that a so-called framework is currently being developed to ensure face-to-face teaching when the staffing situation is tense.

“Distance learning should only be possible in exceptional cases for individual students, classes or years, but not as a principle for an entire school.

Exception: a corresponding order from a local health department. ”Tonne said that this framework should be finalized this week.

The Education and Science Union (GEW) had previously demanded on Monday that the corona tests for students and teachers should be possible daily until at least the end of January.

Since Monday, everyone in a school has had to wear a surgical mask, including during lessons.

Before that, a cloth mask was sufficient for younger students.

According to the first clues, surgical masks were rarely forgotten on the first day of school after the holidays, as the Ministry of Culture reported.

dpa