"Hazard to health": Parents' association finds corona failure - children had to cram at -0.3 degrees
Created: 05/25/2022, 16:29
By: Laura May
Ventilation, masks or built-in air filters?
Since the beginning of the pandemic, parents, teachers and politicians have been discussing the best solution - in the end it was often the school children who suffered.
Bochum - The State Parents' Association of Integrated Schools in North Rhine-Westphalia (LEIS) looked for and found the coldest classroom in North Rhine-Westphalia.
The action came about as a protest against freezing students during the corona pandemic.
The parents' association does not negate the infectious benefits of airing the room, but: "It cannot be argued away that airing becomes a burden for everyone involved, especially in the cold season, and thus also poses a health risk," says a press release.
They primarily demand better equipment with air filters in the classrooms.
North Rhine-Westphalia: state parents are looking for the coldest classroom on Instagram
Since last winter, LEIS has been searching on Instagram for the coldest classroom in Germany's most populous state using the hashtag #kalesteclassinnrw.
The result: Pupils sometimes had to study in unacceptably cold conditions.
Many students had to freeze in the classroom during the pandemic./Symbolic image © Marcel Kusch/dpa
Cold classrooms in NRW: It was below zero in a comprehensive school
The anti-hero at the top of the tender is the Bochum Matthias Claudius Comprehensive School.
There, a student photographed the carbon dioxide device in her classroom: it showed minus 0.3 degrees Celsius.
"Second and third place went to the Bockmühle comprehensive school in Essen and the Kopernikusschule Lippstadt," said Stephie Helder-Notzon, deputy chairwoman of LEIS, to
Der Spiegel
.
"When my daughter showed me a picture of the thermometer in her class next to her seat in December at -0.3 degrees, I realized that the state's specifications for winter temperatures are quite daring," said the deputy chairman of the state parents' association for integrated schools in North Rhine-Westphalia, Steffen Bundrück.
Headmaster Holger Jeppel, however, explained to
Der Spiegel
that the measurement was carried out when the room was aired out and right next to the window.
Learning below freezing: How will the next Corona winter be?
The LEIS awarded the first three places in their call with small prizes for the respective classes.
Bochum got a class set of fleece blankets, Essen got a class set of pocket warmers and Lippstadt got 10 liters of non-alcoholic mulled punch.
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The campaign also reignites the discussion about corona measures in the coming winter.
Headmaster Jeppel understands the protests from parents and students.
Constantly ventilating is neither “energetically nor didactically” wise.
He also does not have the feeling that the country is better prepared for the coming fall and winter.
