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The call in his government communiqué was urgent: at least in the “hotspots of the hotspots”, forms such as hybrid or alternate lessons would have to be carried out to lower the crown numbers in the country, Chancellor Angela Merkel demanded this Thursday in the Bundestag. In other words: The recommendations from the night before should be implemented. “I think this is absolutely necessary,” says the foreign minister, notoriously unhappy with the soft compromise on schools that she had previously negotiated in the videoconference with the country’s leaders.
The federal states or local schools also decide whether and how alternative instruction is implemented. Legally, this is also foreseen – education is the responsibility of the federal states – but in the pandemic, Merkel consciously speaks on the subject: “I know that the federal government has no responsibility for schools,” she said, “but we are responsible for everything. the infection process and we cannot pretend that older students are not making any contributions. “
After “a long period of our deliberations,” as Merkel put it, the Bund-Länder Round had agreed on not particularly far-reaching recommendations: schools in regions with a seven-day incidence of more than 200 cases per 100,000 inhabitants should take more measures The joint resolution states that the design of instruction must be “school-specific”. These should be applied beginning in the eighth grade, but not necessarily for final grades.
Hybrid or alternate lessons are cited as examples, that is, lessons in small groups in a turn-based system so that the minimum distance in the classroom can be maintained. This requirement is not mandatory.
The Foreign Ministry had requested that schools be closed at critical points
Merkel and the head of the Chancellery, Helge Braun, had repeatedly made clear in consultations with heads of country that they did not consider the crown’s requirements in schools to be sufficient. His proposal went well beyond the compromise that has now been negotiated. “In particularly extreme infection situations with 150/200 cases per 100,000 inhabitants per week, serious measures such as school closings, business closures and / or exit restrictions should be envisaged,” according to information from SPIEGEL in a draft resolution of the Chancellery.
“Health or education: thinking in terms of those opposites is a common misunderstanding.”
Chancellor Angela Merkel in her government statement
Braun said Thursday that the federal government had referred to the recommendations of the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) and the Leopoldina National Academy of Sciences. According to experts, the number of infections among young people between 14 and 24 years of age is currently especially high, so it makes sense to “alternate classes” in separate groups, “at least keep your distance.”
The RKI has been recommending for weeks that if in 7 days there is an incidence of more than 50 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, they should return to alternate classes as in spring. However, so far this advice has only been followed sporadically and by no means across the board. The 16 ministers of education of the federal states did not want to agree on a corresponding coordinated procedure at the national level. For weeks he has been adamant that teaching in the classroom is the highest priority. This is the best way to implement the right to education.
Merkel, on the other hand, emphasized in her government statement that “health or economics, health or education – thinking in terms of those opposites is a common misunderstanding.” It’s always about health Y about education. Braun said the federal government is now counting on the fact that the switch model is now consistently implemented in regions with a high level of infection: “I would like very much.”
It remains to be seen whether all federal states will fulfill this wish. The Prime Minister of Baden-Württemberg, Winfried Kretschmann (Greens), announced in Südwestfunk that in the future there would be alternative classes in schools in his country if the number of cases is very high. The day before, Minister of Education and Cultural Affairs Susanne Eisenmann (CDU) vehemently opposed demands that students alternate between teaching at school and at home. “Changing classes in Baden-Württemberg would be an existential mistake,” he said.
“It is not a good compromise”
The return to hybrid teaching has been hotly contested among specialists and school actors for months. The federal-state resolution also provoked mixed reactions. Virologist Melanie Brinkmann told Deutschlandfunk that she would have liked a transition to hybrid teaching and clearer decisions on the mask requirement, especially for older students.
“Now I’m afraid we’re going to keep hovering around that 50s incidence and then back down and then back down, and that’s not really a good compromise because we’re going to have new deaths over and over again every day.” Incidence of 50 50 new infections are expected per 100,000 inhabitants within seven days.
On the contrary, Hans-Iko Huppertz, general secretary of the German Academy of Child and Adolescent Medicine, praised politicians, who learned something new compared to spring, by leaving kindergartens and schools open, especially since the youngest in particularly have a very low risk of infection. Corona infections in schools were in the alcohol range.
Some parents also praise the decision: “Reliably maintaining face-to-face lessons through seventh grade is important to ensure educational safety and participation,” Sabine Kohwagner said of the “Children Need Children” initiative. Face-to-face teaching remains the heart of school education.
Therefore, the possible alternation of lessons for eighth graders with higher infection rates must be considered critically, Kohwagner said. »First, distance or alternate classes harm those students who are already disadvantaged by their parents’ home, place of residence or origin. That is why we require individual and tailor-made concepts on site that take into account the needs of all students. “
