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The ÖVP Education Minister emphasizes: “The closure will not eliminate our uncertainty.”
1:47 pm, October 24, 2020
Minister of Education Heinz Fassmann (ÖVP) ensures that there will be no school closings after the fall holidays that have started this week. In this sense, he knows that the government supports him, Fassmann said on Saturday in the lunch diary Ö1. With federal state education officials, the ministry agreed on Friday to want to keep compulsory schools open even when the traffic lights are red.
“There are no plans to close school here after fall break,” Fassmann said. “The closure will not remove our uncertainty.” At most, if the situation deteriorates dramatically, he may have to reconsider his position, the minister admitted. Transport associations asked Faßmann to shorten school buses or at least ensure that the mask requirement was met.
Financing “hot spot schools”
Faßmann announced that the Ministry of Education wants to select the participants for the “hot spot schools” promotion project, which will start in autumn. “You cannot volunteer there, you will be asked”Said Fassmann. But it is important that the school in question wants to participate. Purely statistical criteria such as the proportion of students with a migratory background or parents with (only) compulsory schooling are not sufficient for selection.
Education officials in the federal states agreed with the ministry on Friday to keep schools open as long as possible. Therefore, the compulsory schools, that is, the elementary and secondary schools, as well as the lower grades of the elementary schools, must remain open even when the traffic light is red. And if the upper school levels change to “distance education”, Matura’s classes must continue to be supervised in schools.
The federal state of Salzburg, which is currently particularly affected by the rise in Covid infections, is considering taking shifts from high school after All Saints’ Day. The decision should be made early next week.
