The schools in the district currently have enough capacity to accommodate the young Ukrainians who want to be taught there.
Above all, the students want to help.
District – The Ukraine crisis is a challenge for the schools in the district: They have to declare war on their students and admit refugee children to their classes in the foreseeable future.
At the same time, a shortage of teachers and sick leave restrict capacities.
"It's a big challenge," says Rector Ulrich Throner from the elementary and middle school in Rottach-Egern.
"But we want to support these students."
Throner's school faces the greatest challenge of the schools we surveyed, based on the current, still very changeable status.
Seven young Ukrainians currently housed in Kreuth, who, according to the rector, are not at all linguistically prepared, could soon attend classes in Rottach-Egern.
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Ulrich Throner, rector of the elementary and middle school in Rottach-Egern
© Poeplau Ralf
The Ministry of Education has not yet given the schools any instructions on how this should work if suddenly traumatized students who do not speak a word of German are sitting in class.
Throner says: "Our funding opportunities are limited." His school does not have much free capacity.
Nevertheless, Throner has developed solutions: maybe communication in English will work, maybe external staff can help with German lessons, he says.
Everything is still vaguely spoken, but somehow his school will help people.
The network of school psychologists, crisis intervention team and youth social work is enough to support students psychologically.
Oberland Realschule
The Oberland Realschule in Holzkirchen received slightly fewer inquiries than Throner, reports Rector Joachim Fischer.
Five students asked to be admitted.
Probably mainly because contact people happened to tell them about the Realschule, less because it necessarily matches their level of performance.
"The question is, what about language skills?"
Fischer does not see a problem in this.
His facility could handle five more students.
In the past, young people without any knowledge of German had attended his school as guest students.
Some learned the language so well within half a year that they became regular students and obtained degrees.
Whether that works depends on the motivation of the young people.
But it is also possible for those who have now fled.
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Joachim Fischer, Rector Oberland Realschule Holzkirchen
© Thomas Plettenberg
Gymnasium Miesbach
Only one young Ukrainian has asked for a place at the Miesbach Gymnasium so far, headmistress Claudia Reiserer reports.
Because of his unresolved prospects of staying, she had to put off the applicant for the time being.
If you have a good knowledge of German, high schools will also accept refugee children and young people, says Reiserer.
However, other types of schools will bear the brunt.
The pupils
But how do the German students actually deal with the events of the war?
Most of them are well informed, report the headmasters unanimously.
Reiserer says some have asked relatives in Ukraine for understanding if they are currently feeling worse.
Above all, the students want to help, say the principals unanimously.
Teachers answer questions and take up what is happening in the classroom.
Clarify suffering, explain backgrounds, give tips on reliable sources of information.
Outside of class, students and teachers also want to help.
The Oberland Realschule will run a charity run, students at the Rottach-Egern elementary and middle school want to make buttons or jute bags and sell them for donations, and students at the Miesbach high school are also planning offers.
The helpfulness is the beauty of the situation, says Fischer.
"We all want to do our part to ensure that these people are doing well."
The question remains: Should many more Ukrainians flee, will the schools then reach their limits?
A few additional students are manageable, says Fischer.
An additional class would be too much at the moment.
"We're close to the limit." The other principals take a similar view.
Fischer remains optimistic: "If students flee Ukraine, then maybe some of the teachers who can teach them will flee too." He could use them.
