More than 40 cases in the Weilheim-Schongau district alone: ​​Parents do not let their children go to school because they are required to take tests

Created: 01/26/2022, 08:00

By: Jennifer Battaglia

Lollipop tests are on the program twice a week in elementary schools.

© Roland Weihrauch

In order to be allowed to take part in the lessons, Bavarian students have to test themselves.

Not all parents are involved.

They leave their children at home from school, although the students have been considered truants since October.

The regulatory office is aware of 40 cases in the Weilheim-Schongau district – and the trend is rising.

Weilheim-Schongau district

– Since October, attendance at Bavarian schools has been compulsory again. Learning in distance classes is no longer allowed to fulfill compulsory schooling. In order to be allowed to take part in classes, students must wear a mask and test themselves several times a week. Not all parents agree with these requirements and therefore leave their children at home from school or deregister them completely.

Beate Sitek, headmistress at the Weilheim high school, thinks that's terrible. "It's really awful," she says. For months she tried to get through to her parents - without success. "I've given up trying to understand the arguments of these people," she says. "That's no longer rational." According to the headmistress, parents who refuse to take the tests for their offspring claim that the tests are poisoned or that the state wants to keep the children afraid by making masks compulsory. "It's a world I don't want to be drawn into," says Sitek, who has been in the ministry for more than 40 years. Compared to other secondary schools in the district, there was a higher number of test refusers at the grammar school. In the meantime, the majority of the students have been withdrawn from the school:either by the parents or, in one case, by the Gymnasium itself.

Test refusers at schools: Youth Welfare Office and the police are not automatically notified

In the case of one family, Sitek informed the public order office.

This is normal procedure for truants.

As a rule, a fine is then issued, which must be paid if no objection is raised.

The youth welfare office or the police are not automatically involved.

Upon request, the public order office will inform you that if there is a suspicion of endangering the child's well-being, the school in question will contact the youth welfare office.

The non-compliance with compulsory schooling is not a threat to the well-being of the child per se, but can be an indication or an expression of another threat to the well-being of the child.

Only deliberately preventing children from attending school can be justified as a threat to the welfare of the child.

"For me, this is a form of abuse," says director Sitek.

"The children are used by their parents." From conversations with affected students, she knows that many are unhappy.

"Younger children in particular are not so good at expressing themselves to their parents," says the 64-year-old.

"They actually want to come to school." But if you don't show up for class, you can't be graded and thus don't reach the goal of the grade.

In short: the students remain seated.

Some parents send their children to schools abroad

Some parents have therefore decided to send their child to a school abroad or to pack their bags and emigrate themselves. The home newspaper has at least one case from the district. According to Sitek, testing several times a week is no problem for the remaining 1,100 high school students. "The children laugh, none of that is an issue."

The regulatory office is aware of more than 40 cases of test refusers at schools in the district - and the trend is rising.

According to information from the Ministry of Education, it is up to 0.18 percent across Bavaria, whereby test refusers are not recorded separately by the ministry, but are counted together with students who are absent from school due to a medical certificate related to corona or a leave of absence.

With 1.6 million students in the Free State, there are currently up to 2,880 students who do not attend classes.

If parents withdraw their child from a secondary school, the respective school notifies the school authority.

According to the Ministry of Education, the office then controls the fulfillment of compulsory schooling or the registration at another school.

Student: "I think it's stupid that I don't go to school anymore"

The local newspaper was able to speak to an underage student who was dropped from school by a parent.

"I think it's stupid that I don't go to school anymore," she says.

"I have no problem with testing." But a parent does.

"That's why there were often arguments at home." She would like to come back to class to see her friends - at the moment she can only see many of them during the lunch break.

There are no exceptions to the test requirement.

Everyone has to test themselves - regardless of whether the students have already been boosted or have not been vaccinated against the corona virus.

According to a spokesman for the Ministry of Education, schools are already among the "safest places in society" thanks to the close-meshed safety net.

Weilheim-Penzberg newsletter: Everything from your region!

Our Weilheim-Penzberg newsletter informs you regularly about all the important stories from the Weilheim and Penzberg region - including all the news about the Corona crisis in your community.

Sign up here.

By the way: Everything from the region is now also available in our regular Schongau newsletter.