Final exams next to the G7 demonstrators: An awkward situation for junior high school students in Garmisch-Partenkirchen

Created: 01/22/2022, 10:00 am

By: Peter Reinbold

The Zugspitz-Realschule, which is currently housed in containers, is located directly on Bahnhofstrasse.

© FOTOPRESS THOMAS VERY

The graduates of the Zugspitz-Realschule write their final mathematics exam at the G7 summit of all times.

The school is located directly on Bahnhofstrasse in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, which was already a staging area for demonstrators and the police during the 2015 summit.

Not an ideal environment for the students.

The Ministry of Education wants to go through with the exams anyway.

District

– The G7 summit in Schloss Elmau at the end of June may produce big headlines and perhaps collateral damage. The students in the final classes of the St. Irmengard secondary school and the Zugspitz secondary school in Garmisch-Partenkirchen could become victims of the meeting of the presidents, heads of state and government of the seven most important industrial nations in the western world. Just on the days when Joe Biden, Olaf Scholz, Emmanuel Macron, Boris Johnson and the statesmen from Canada, Italy and Japan are likely to ponder problems that move the world, more than 100 children are facing the math exams (27. June) and business administration/accounting (June 28) on the program.

What could make things explosive and disrupt the young people's concentration and efforts to get good grades: The Zugspitz secondary school, which is currently housed in containers on the former PX site because the traditional buildings on Gamsangerweg are being renovated is located directly on Bahnhofstrasse, St. Irmengard im Hazekreis.

At the 2015 summit, the station forecourt and Bahnhofstraße were the starting point and hotspot for numerous loud and sometimes violent demonstrations, which were accompanied by several hundred riot police.

Lots of thinking but no concrete plans for the exams

Such a scenario is also conceivable in June this year. "Several demos have already been registered," says Wolfgang Rotzsche, spokesman for the district office. There they are already dealing intensively with the school problem, which did not arise seven years ago because the summit took place at the end of the Whitsun holidays. The district administration is involved on the one hand as a security authority and on the other hand as the bearer of material expenses for the Zugspitze secondary school, while St. Irmengard is subordinate to the diocese of Munich and Freising. According to Rotzsche, talks have already taken place with the police and school administrations. So far without concrete result. "There are considerations that have not yet been completed."

One business game among many: The graduates of the Zugspitz-Realschule – at least those 65 in mathematics – are shipped to a suitable hall or gymnasium in the northern district.

The Blue Land secondary school in Murnau is said to be in the room.

A solution that would ultimately have to be met by the Ministry of Culture.

Regina Spitzer considers this to be anything but ideal.

What's more: "I completely rule that out," says the rector.

"If I can, I will prevent that.

I will fight like a lioness for my students to give them the best possible conditions, because a good degree, which they have worked towards for six years, is immensely important to them.”

During the G7 summit in 2015, the Garmisch-Partenkirchner Bahnhofstrasse was the main staging area for demonstrators and the police.

© Tobias Hase/DPA

Return to the main building of the Zugspitz-Realschule not possible: police officers sleep there

Regina Spitzer is the principal at the Zugspitz Realschule.

© FOTOPRESS THOMAS VERY

The possibility of returning to the gym on Gamsangerweg for the mathematics exam, which Spitzer had envisaged, cannot be realised.

Although the renovation was postponed, the building will serve as accommodation and sleeping space for various police forces during the summit.

Spitzer is in close contact with Wolfgang Mühldorfer, rector of the secondary school in St. Irmengard.

Mühldorfer showed Spitzer an alternative that she would accept if it could be implemented.

Apparently there is the possibility that the Zugspitz Realschule students will write their final mathematics exam in the St. Irmengard gymnasium.

"That would be ideal," says Spitzer, who praises the willingness to cooperate.

Mühldorfer sees the situation of his school and his students as far less explosive than the situation for Spitzer. "We haven't done anything yet," he says. Its graduates will manage the tasks in the new, lowered auditorium. "It's shielded in such a way that nothing should happen," says Mühldorfer.

The demonstrations on Bahnhofstrasse in Garmisch-Partenkirchen are a problem. A second: Federal highway 2, which is relevant to security between Garmisch-Partenkirchen and Krün during the summit and which the police will block if necessary so that world politicians are not exposed to danger. The same applies to the railway line. If the B2 and the rails are tight, the students from the southern district no longer have the opportunity to get to their schools and miss their exams. According to Spitzer, higher-level positions have considered letting the graduates sweat over the tests in their home towns of Krün, Mittenwald or Wallgau. "It's not practical," she says. It is very important to her that the students do their work “as a class” so that the stress does not increase for them. Difficulties,that could arise due to the traffic situation, Mühldorfer also sees. “We have that on the screen. We will certainly find a reasonable solution.” What might that look like? "Maybe the police will bring the students," he says. "But that was a joke."

Wolfgang Mühldorfer, Rector of the St. Irmengard Realschule.

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According to the Ministry of Education, postponing the exams is illusory

A postponement of the mathematics and BwR exams for the two schools in Garmisch-Partenkirchen is illusory.

Similar to the Abitur, the Middle School Diploma is taken at the same time in all regions of Bavaria with the same material.

"Of course, the State Ministry for Education and Culture has the final exams in mind and has already explicitly pointed out that the central final exams must take place regularly," said the press office when asked by the Tagblatt.

The Ministry of Department Head Michael Piazolo (Free Voters) does not want to comment on the traffic problem.

One refers to the State Chancellery, where for a "major events like the G7 summit,