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Extend the Christmas holidays to protect yourself from the coronavirus, shortening the next summer holidays? Stefanie Hubig (SPD), President of the Conference of Ministers of Education and Minister of Education of Rhineland-Palatinate, sees this proposal from the CDU politicians as “personally critical”. Hubig briefed the Tagesspiegel upon request.
“If you look at where the infections are occurring and transmitting, then it is not the schools. So it is questionable whether extended vacations could contain the infections,” Hubig explained. There were also “a number of other issues related to the course of the school year, final exams and school organization.” This would also pose new challenges for parents in reconciling family and work.
However, the issue of winter holidays should be the subject of discussions by education ministers next Friday. She is “openly” in this exchange, Hubig said. The prime ministers of the federal states were also able to discuss the issue with Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) on Wednesday. Preventing school closings is one of the most important goals of Corona’s measures.
Union politicians had proposed extending the Christmas and winter holidays as a protective measure against corona infections in the cold season on Tuesday. “We should think about extending the winter holidays by two or three weeks and shortening them accordingly in the summer,” said the head of the Hamburg CDU, Christoph Ploß, of the newspaper “Bild”.
The goal must be to overcome the pandemic in the best possible way. His parliamentary group colleague in the Bundestag Stephan Pilsinger (CSU) even suggested up to four more weeks of Christmas holidays with a corresponding reduction in the Easter and summer holidays. “The welfare of students and teachers should be in the foreground,” justified his proposal.
The teachers’ association considers the vacation proposal “absurd”
Heinz-Peter Meidinger, president of the Teachers Association, is also negative. “The Association of German Teachers does not believe in such considerations for various reasons,” Meidinger told Tagesspiegel.
On the one hand, schools should take advantage of the time when face-to-face teaching with full classes is (still) possible, Meidinger said: “No one knows if and when a new blockade or a new phase of alternation will come.”
On the other hand, it makes no sense to shorten future 2021 summer vacations, where there is at least hope that larger-scale vacation travel will be possible again thanks to a vaccine and better medication.
All schools must purchase air filtering devices
Meidinger renewed his demand to purchase air filter devices in all schools that would make constant ventilation in the cold season superfluous. “It would be an indictment for the federal states if schools had to be closed for longer because the policy is too tight to fund the necessary hygiene measures.”
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Schwesig also rejects the move
Manuela Schwesig (SPD), Prime Minister of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, has already rejected the holiday proposal. That would upset children and parents, he said. Susanne Eisenmann (CDU), Baden-Württemberg’s Minister of Education and Cultural Affairs, also reacted skeptically: “Even at the end of January, the winter is not over yet, so this is too short a deadline,” she said. Such a move would also involve various triggering new problems and presenting schools with additional organizational challenges, such as mixing apprenticeships and exams.
The Berlin Senate Schools Administration declined to comment further on the proposal. A spokesperson for Senator Sandra Scheeres (SPD) simply noted that the idea had been noted and that there was a regular exchange with the other federal states about Corona.
An extension of the Christmas break is likely to have dire consequences, especially for high school graduates and students with an upcoming MSA degree – their preparation and learning time for exams would be significantly reduced. (with dpa / Reuters)
