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For weeks there was a discussion in Baden-Württemberg about how to deal with schools in view of the increasing number of infections. Now the Ministry of Culture is making alternate lessons possible, but not mandatory.
In schools in the urban and rural districts of Baden-Württemberg with a particularly high number of corona infections, there may also be alternative and distance learning in previous grades starting this Tuesday. This is what emerges from the regulations of the Ministry of Education, updated on Monday afternoon. The prerequisite for this is that there are more than 200 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants in the district in the last seven days.
Alternate lessons are also possible starting in the eighth grade. According to the document, a minimum distance of 1.5 meters must be guaranteed in the school. With alternate lessons, classes are divided in half and taught alternately at home and at school. There should be a daily or weekly cycle. However, alternative instruction is not mandatory for schools.
Exchange or distance learning not per se for Corona hotspots
The Culture Ministry also announced that there should be no automatic switching lessons at the so-called Corona hotspots. “The deciding factor is whether the infection actually affects school operations,” the ministry said. The school leadership, together with the responsible school supervisory authority and the health department, decides if there is an alternate operation beginning in the eighth grade. Scholars due to take final exams next spring are excluded from alternative and distance learning. According to the Ministry of Culture, the respective school must ensure that all students can be reached through distance learning.
The Minister of Health, Lucha, had advocated for alternative classes
The Minister of Health, Manne Lucha (Greens), had previously spoken in favor of alternative or distance education in the upper grades. “That now seems to me to be an effective means,” he told SWR on Monday. This way you can also reduce contacts on the way to school, Lucha said.
The state government is still arguing about how to proceed for schools in Baden-Württemberg in the context of the high number of corona infections. The Minister of Health, Lucha, considers that changing the lessons is an “effective means”. Education Minister Eisenmann is opposed.
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Eisenmann initially against homeschooling half classes
The Susanne Eisenmann Ministry of Culture (CDU) was initially unconvinced by the idea of returning to alternative teaching. The reason given by the Ministry of Culture was that “the contagion process in schools is not conducting.” In addition, the face-to-face lessons offer structure to the children. This is particularly important for children from socially disadvantaged families.