High sick leave: Infections catch teachers and students - mobile reserve is not enough

There is currently a certain exceptional situation in the primary and secondary schools in the district.

The reason for this is the above-average sickness rate among teachers and students.

"Since the middle of last week we have been registering an increase in the number of illnesses," confirms Jürgen Heiss, head of the school authority, when asked by our newspaper.

Apparently it is not Corona that flattens students and teachers, because the corresponding tests are usually negative.

Rather, they are flu-like infections, as Heiss found out.

Gastrointestinal diseases are also currently in circulation.

"Ultimately, it's the classic cold symptoms," says the head of the school authority.

time surprised

The timing surprised him a bit: “We expected a wave of illness after the autumn holidays, but that didn’t happen.” The numbers have now increased.

Which probably suggests that the infections of the transitional period are only spreading now that the temperatures are becoming wintry.

As is well known, it has been too mild for this time of year for weeks.

Increased failure rate

However, it is difficult to record the exact numbers of those affected, as Heiss explains, "since we do not record the numbers every day at school".

He currently puts the dropout rate among teachers at around ten percent in primary and secondary schools in the district.

Pregnancy and longer-term illnesses accounted for four percent, but six percent have now been added in the short term.

The school authority does not record how the numbers are for the students.

"But we are in talks with schools," says Heiss.

An elementary and middle school reported that around 70 of around 300 students were ill.

Mobile reserve is not enough

In order to keep the lessons running as smoothly as possible, the mobile reserve is exhausted, but it is not enough to absorb all the failures.

"Otherwise the schools will have to improvise, for example by merging." In addition, the government of Upper Bavaria is still looking for external reinforcements.

According to Heiss, people are always interested in this, "but the problem is that you need a certain pre-qualification for it".

Ideally, it would be students who are studying to become teachers and those who have moved up the list who are eligible for the mobile reserve.

Otherwise, support as a school assistant, who is used in administration and for supervision, is also conceivable.

For the current situation, Heiss is more about waiting and recovering: "I have good hope that everything will stabilize again when everyone has gone through these infections."

ddy

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