Dark trend: More and more students in Bavaria are at home because of Corona - the cases in daycare centers are also increasing

Created: 01/23/2022, 06:52

By: Thomas Eldersch

More and more students in Bavaria are absent from school because they either have Corona or are in quarantine.

© Philipp von Ditfurth/dpa/symbol image

Since the end of the winter holidays, more and more children and young people have had to stay at home.

The number of corona infections and quarantine cases has risen sharply.

Munich - Omikron is on the rise and doesn't stop at the youngest.

This is confirmed by new figures from the Bavarian Ministry of Education.

Accordingly, the number of schoolchildren who are suffering from Corona* or are in quarantine is increasing sharply.

However, the virus does not stop at kindergartens, crèches and after-school care centers.

Here, too, the Ministry of Social Affairs has recorded an increase in the number of cases.

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Corona in schools and daycare centers: the numbers have doubled

On Friday (January 21), the Ministry of Education informed dpa that 3.8 percent of the students are currently absent from class. That's twice as many as on January 11 - after the end of the winter holidays. 1.5 percent of the children and adolescents tested positive for Corona. 2.3 percent of them are in quarantine. The numbers have also developed here in parallel with the infection process in Bavaria.

Day care centers and after-school care centers are also affected by the development.

As of Friday, there were 970 out of 10,200 facilities across Bavaria, according to the Ministry of Social Affairs, which corresponds to about a trebling within a week.

49 facilities were completely closed, 691 partially.

In another 230, only individuals were affected by quarantine measures.

According to the ministry, just a week earlier, only seven facilities had been completely closed and 147 partially closed, and individuals had been affected in 119 facilities.

Corona in Bavaria: Union warns - "It's just the beginning of the road"

Bavaria's Social Affairs Minister Carolina Trautner (CSU) continues to preach that the "top priority remains to keep the daycare centers open.

Because children need children, parents need reliable day care and the families and employees need the greatest possible protection. ”Her cabinet colleague, Minister of Education Michael Piazolo * (Free Voters), also reacted: “The close-meshed tests and adapted quarantine regulations help to reduce the risk of infection to keep the schools low.” Among other things, there should also be PCR tests in the 5th and 6th grades from March.

Nevertheless, one must "be careful and monitor developments closely," said the minister.

Prime Minister Markus Söder (left) and his two ministers Carolina Trautner (social affairs) and Michael Piazolo (culture).

© Matthias Balk/dpa

The Education and Science Union (GEW) is not quite as optimistic. It is assumed there that care facilities will soon be closed completely or at least partially. "Due to the lack of testing procedures with antigen tests, we assume that outbreaks are not noticed in time. As a result, many will be affected at the same time," said Deputy State Chairman Gerd Schnellinger on request. "From my point of view, this is only the beginning and the end of the flagpole is far from in sight." A difficult situation for mothers and fathers: "You have to expect at any time that your child will not be able to go to school due to quarantine measures and must be cared for at home," said Henrike Paede, deputy chairwoman of the Bavarian Parents' Association. "One can only hopethat their employers will support them if they have already exhausted the available quotas.”

Video: Fewer children remained seated during the corona pandemic

Ministry of Social Affairs plans to relieve parents

In a similar situation a good year ago, there were still backup solutions for working parents in systemically relevant professions.

And this time?

"Appropriate plans are being prepared as a precaution," said the Ministry of Social Affairs.

The GEW reported on creative solutions on site.

If more and more staff are leaving, it will become an unsolvable challenge.

Then the educators and nannies alone bear the burden again, although they have been working at their breaking point for almost two years.

In Schnellinger's view, medium-term consequences in times of extreme shortage of skilled workers are also not foreseeable.

"In the end, our children bear the consequences of failed policies in early childhood education."

The deputy GEW chairman described the mood among the employees after two years of the pandemic as “disappointed, resigned, worried and anxious”.

Colleagues felt they were neither taken seriously nor adequately protected.

At no time were they even remotely provided with adequate protective measures.