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Motto “keep it up”: Germany’s education ministers remain in place even as crown numbers rise. Schools must remain as open as possible. “The right to education of children and adolescents can best be realized in face-to-face lessons,” says a joint decision of the 16 education ministers, which was published on Tuesday, a day before the new deliberations of Chancellor Angela Merkel and the Prime Minister of the Countries on new pandemic measures.
Schools, as places of social interaction, are also of crucial importance for the development of children and young people, writes the Conference of Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs (KMK). “This should be a top priority in all decisions on restrictive measures to be taken due to the increasing number of infections.”
KMK President Stefanie Hubig emphasized that infection numbers in schools nationwide are currently in the per thousand range and therefore at a comparatively low level. According to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) and the situation there, it is becoming clear that younger children and adolescents are less affected and are not the drivers of the pandemic. Hubig explained: “We all have to restrict ourselves in our private lives, we have to give up celebrations, gatherings with friends and perhaps hobbies so that our children and young people can receive the education they deserve.”
“We all have to confine ourselves in private”
During the national closure in the spring, all schools in Germany were closed for weeks. Only gradually did they return to teaching in the shift system, in the alternate model. Parent-teacher associations have agreed with various experts and politicians, including Merkel, that this should now be avoided as far as possible. Shortly before the change of chancellor with the prime minister, the head of state of Saxony, Michael Kretschmer, confirmed that kindergartens and schools would remain open after consultations on Wednesday.
In Corona’s individual hotspots, for example in Bavaria, the first schools have been closed again in recent days, or lessons are held in shifts. It is also highly controversial whether the above hygiene measures in schools are sufficient or can even be implemented across the board. Some PTAs have been urging greater protection against infection for weeks, and binding guidelines from the KMK.
Among other things, they criticize the fact that ministers have not yet agreed on a common line to implement RKI’s recommendations for schools. These foresee a return to the pattern of change in seven days of around 50 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants.
However, education ministers apparently still did not want to commit to a uniform procedure at the national level and stricter hygiene rules depending on the number of cases. The decision document says: The situation still requires “reacting with sensitivity to the infection process at the local, regional and national levels.” Hubig explained that the ministers had agreed to “continue to carefully monitor the infection situation and collect all figures regularly.”
“Compromise softened”
The Association of German Teachers received strong criticism. President Heinz-Peter Meidinger called the KMK statement “largely pointless and insubstantial.” “It does not give any answers to the urgent questions about how to react in schools to the increasing number of infections in Germany,” said Meidinger, himself the head of a secondary school in Bavaria.
The Parenting Education Association (VBE) described the KMK resolution as a “softened compromise.” It is “adventurous” that people react to the threatening situation in all areas of society, but the KMK’s cross-border consensus offers nothing new. “This opens the door and the door for the procedure that we see in many places: the lessons continue without looking at the infection situation,” warned VBE President Udo Beckmann.
With all the support for the right to education, those who teach and want to learn in risk areas need “more protection against infection than ventilation once an hour.” Beckmann again called for small group teaching again: “Because we want schools to stay open too.”
However, many parents and professionals also want to avoid the change model for as long as possible because children and young people are only in school on a daily or weekly basis in case of doubt. Parents’ initiatives warn that children from socially disadvantaged families, in particular, run the risk of being left behind.
The German Child Protection Association also said Tuesday that the closure of nurseries and schools would have to be the last resort, as opposed to the first closure. Closing kindergartens and schools again would put considerable strain on parents, especially mothers, said the president of the Child Protection Association, Heinz Hilgers. “Children’s rights to education and support are no longer guaranteed.”
