The masks fall: elementary school children are allowed to take off their mouth and nose covers in place

Created: 03/22/2022Updated: 03/22/2022 15:12

By: Laura Forster

Away with the mouth-nose cover: The elementary school students in the district, like here in the Starnberg elementary school, have been able to do without their masks in class since yesterday.

However, as soon as there is a corona case in the class, all children are again required to wear masks for five days.

© Andrea Jaksch

Since Monday, elementary school children in the Starnberg district no longer have to wear a mask during class.

The effort is still high for the teachers, some questions are still unresolved - and some classes are not yet allowed to make use of the new rule.

Starnberg/district – A bit of freedom for elementary school students, that's what the state government had in mind with the new regulation that has been in effect since Monday and exempts elementary school students from the obligation to wear a mask in class.

The condition is that the children are tested for the corona virus twice a week with PCR pool tests, also known as lollipop tests.

At the Oskar-Maria-Graf-Grunschule in Aufkirchen, however, the reality is different.

"Two out of ten classes don't have to wear masks," says principal Dr.

Silke Rogosch.

At least one student in the remaining classes was infected with the corona virus.

This means that all classmates are still required to wear masks for at least five days - even in their seats.

“The students understand that. We calmly explained the current situation to them.

But of course you notice that many children are waiting to finally be able to take off their masks.”

She is happy for the students, said Rogosch.

Especially the younger ones don't even know lessons without a mask.

But the rector also sees the dangers.

"With the current number of infections, I think that the students should continue to wear the mask - not only in the toilets, in the auditorium and in the corridors, but also in class.

Almost all of us in the teaching staff agree on that,” says the headmistress.

"It doesn't help anyone if the children get infected and have to stay at home in quarantine."

New decision by the state government raises questions

Nicole Bannert, headmistress of the Starnberg primary school, is still skeptical about the new regulation.

"In principle, the decision is going in the right direction," says Bannert, who has never seen some students without a mask.

"However, it also raises questions." The danger lies outside of the classes - in religious education, in the playground or at lunchtime when different children come together.

“How are colleagues supposed to know who is no longer subject to the mask requirement and who still has to wear mouth and nose protection because there is a corona case in the class?

Once again, this has not been thought through to the end,” says Bannert.

"We see the new rule with a smiling and a twitching eye."

Masks are still compulsory for teachers - according to Katharina Casper, headmistress of the Christian-Morgenstern elementary school in Herrsching, the right decision.

"I'm a bit worried about my teaching staff." She fears that the infection situation could now worsen.

“The risk of infection is now significantly higher in the elementary school classes, and unfortunately we are short staffed.” The school can hardly afford to be absent.

Nevertheless, the rector of the elementary and middle school is happy that the students can now show their faces in class again.

"That way you understand the children much better and you know immediately who said something."

Since yesterday, masks no longer have to be worn at special schools, such as the Fünfseen School in Starnberg.

The fifth and sixth grades of the secondary schools will follow next week.

"In the next few days, we can gain initial experience with the elementary school students and apply it to the middle school students right away," says Casper.

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