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Two days before the holidays to reduce contacts and be able to celebrate Christmas with the family with peace of mind: the plan originally came from NRW. After initial criticism, some states are joining the proposal.
In several federal states, the Christmas holidays will be extended for a few days this year. The move is aimed at preventing the coronavirus from spreading further during the holidays and is originally based on a proposal from North Rhine-Westphalia Prime Minister Armin Laschet (CDU).
Two weeks ago Laschet announced that the last day of classes in North Rhine-Westphalia would be brought forward to December 18. The background of the considerations is that people should limit their social contacts as much as possible a few days before Christmas so that there are no infections in family celebrations. Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria are now following this approach.
Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg follow suit
In Bavaria, December 23 would originally have been the first day of vacation, now, as in North Rhine-Westphalia, it is December 21. The distance between lessons and Christmas will increase, said Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU). “In this way, we are improving the possibilities for Bavarian families to celebrate the most important holiday of the year in a healthy and carefree way.” The risk of infection is “greatly reduced” by the waiting period of nearly a week between school lessons and Christmas, the prime minister argued.
In Baden-Württemberg, as in other countries, the last day of classes is December 22. Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann (Greens) said that if the students were released on vacation on December 18, they would have a period of five to six days until Christmas Eve that could be used to minimize contact. “Then you will go to your grandparents with a more relaxed feeling at parties and you will celebrate Christmas with your family,” said the State Ministry.
The Baden-Wuerttemberg Ministry of Culture emphasized two weeks ago that it would not order longer Christmas holidays across the country because it could raise organizational issues and pose problems for many parents. However, individual schools across the country can extend the Christmas break this year with flexible vacation days.
Saxony-Anhalt checks the start of school on January 11
Saxony-Anhalt appears to be considering an extension of the Christmas holidays as well, although it does not want to start earlier, but rather let it end later. If Saxony-Anhalt’s Education Minister Marco Tullner (CDU) decides to extend it, classes could only start again on January 11 instead of January 7, a spokesman for the Education Ministry said. There would be a ten day break between New Year’s Eve and the end of the holidays. “This would not lead to infections from the holidays to school,” the spokesman said.
Earlier, Prime Minister Reiner Haseloff (CDU) had already indicated that the Christmas holidays could be extended this year due to the crown.
Planning security solutions and support
The GEW teachers union criticized NRW’s plan to advance the Christmas holidays immediately after it became known: The situation of the care of the affected children was unclear. The NRW state government has reacted to this and announced emergency care for students in grades 1-6 on December 21-22. The Ministry of Education announced this in an email to all schools on Monday. The support will be provided by some 200,000 teachers in North Rhine-Westphalia.
However, the German Philological Association warned of “planning chaos” as a result of the short-term extension of the holidays. The teachers wanted to plan their lessons wisely, said the association’s president, Susanne Lin-Klitzing, of the Germany publishing network. “When in doubt, those who are graduating from high school or have other exams to take would suffer short-term vacation extensions.” Rather than being agitated during vacation periods, serial testing is needed at the beginning of school in the new year – that is, voluntary corona tests for all students and teachers.
The contagion process in schools and how to deal with the Christmas holidays are some of the issues that are currently being negotiated between the federal and state governments. A final decision will be made on a federal-state swap on Wednesday. In a draft resolution for the meeting, cited by the dpa news agency, the population is called upon to self-quarantine for several days before Christmas if possible. The newspaper goes on to say: “This can be supported by a Christmas school vacation starting on December 19, 2020, if necessary.”
