VHS Peißenberg: "We start carefully"

Created: 01/29/2022, 02:00 p.m

By: Catherine Hauser

Ready to start: (from left) Mechthild Merz, Sigrid Halbritter and Ariane Schnitzler.

© GRONAU

This spring, the Peißenberg adult education center (VHS) will enter the fifth semester, which is shaped by the corona pandemic.

The past two years have been an eventful time for the head of the VHS in the market town, Mechthild Merz, her colleagues as well as for lecturers and course participants.

Peißenberg – Course operations had to be stopped again and again, new hygiene concepts had to be drawn up and new corona regulations implemented.

Nevertheless, a new program is now appearing, which is also included in the home newspaper today.

A conversation about it with the director of the Volkshoochschule, Mechthild Merz.

What is the topic of the program for the spring and summer semester 2022?

We chose the theme “Together in Diversity”.

We think it fits well because of the six different program areas, because there are indoor and outdoor offers and because we appeal to different age groups and interest groups.

How many courses are offered at the VHS Peißenberg?

Altogether there are around 235 courses that we will be offering in the coming semester.

However, the number can still change.

Possibly one or the other offer will be added in spring or summer.

It all depends on the Corona situation.

Because we are dependent on it, we will start cautiously with language courses from mid-February.

From mid-March things really get going.

What is the ratio of online courses to face-to-face courses?

Despite Corona, our focus is still on face-to-face offers.

These make up two-thirds of our program.

A third consists of courses that take place online.

How have the pandemic and the Corona rules affected VHS operations?

We have suffered major losses in the past semesters.

That was also the case last fall semester.

2G applied to many face-to-face courses and 2G+ to the movement courses.

In this area we had to stop 80 percent of the courses in the past semester.

That was too much effort for most people.

That caused us major financial problems in the fall semester.

What do you think, how is this going on?

The 2G or 2G+ regulations still apply.

It's a bit of a relief now, because with 2G+, instead of a test, being boosted also counts.

We hope and expect that there will be relief towards March.

Isn't it getting frustrating to keep offering courses that then mostly don't take place?

We have had to scrap large parts of our program over the past two years.

The only good thing about it is that we VHSers are in the same boat.

So it's good that you can feel supported in the VHS family.

And that there is the Corona federal aid, without it we would certainly not have survived so well, fortunately the financial deficits are more or less within limits.

What's next for the VHS Peißenberg?

We have to see that we can develop again.

One of the major difficulties is that some course leaders and lecturers have now looked for other jobs.

Finding new instructors will be a challenge.

What about the participants?

We have many loyal course participants.

Many stayed and let their registrations from autumn continue for spring.

We are grateful that so many regular customers have remained loyal to us.

further information

More information – also about the registration modalities can be found on the internet on the homepage of the adult education center at www.vhs.peissenberg.de

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