School openings: what appears in the classroom surprises you

Status: 1:26 pm | Reading time: 3 minutes.

mes until now. Finally. These days, millions of children in schools and kindergartens are returning to places they were not allowed to visit for three months. My three children are also very happy and it really should be the same for me.

But when I see the situation, especially the schoolchildren, returning, I can only shake my head in disbelief.

Schools in this country were empty for three months. A lot of time to worry about when the teachers and children will return. A lot of time to equip facilities with effective hygiene concepts: ventilation systems, effective mask management and a rapid test strategy.

If there is something good about a confinement, then it is a certain amount of calm to plan and implement. To be perfectly prepared when you start again.

That moment has now come. But it cannot be a perfect preparation.

Have large-scale filter systems been installed? The industry itself announced in the fall that such systems could be delivered and installed in a few weeks. But that did not happen. It is estimated that between two and five percent of all classrooms are equipped with it.

The reboot is not unexpected

If you ask state ministries about the status quo, they will tell you that there will be many more in the coming weeks. In the next weeks? Now the reboot will begin.

And it is by no means unexpected. It was clear to everyone in this country that classroom teaching could start over at any time. Nobody needs these devices in May or June. The “open all windows” method is equally effective when in doubt. Now children are freezing in classrooms in temperatures close to zero degrees.

Are skins now available across the board for students? Maybe even FFP2 copies, which are recommended by many experts? No. Medical masks are not available in all settings, explains the Federal Council of Parents. “Nowhere is there a regular supply,” complains Hans-Peter Meidinger, president of the German Teachers Association.

Are there regular rapid tests for children and teachers? No. What should be the central component of a low-risk return of teachers and students is found almost everywhere in the project phase. Almost nothing has happened here in the last three months, either.

Now the authorities are falling into action. There will be quick test concepts for everyone soon. But if you ask the grassroots teachers, they have lost faith in the real concepts. The unused lock break has puzzled many.

The question of who is responsible for this misery is almost useless. Because whether it is the federal government, the states or their respective ministries, they are all blaming others for having an alibi.

The truth is that everyone is constantly talking about using all their strength to protect health systems from overload. From the beginning they warned about schools as a possible source of infection.

How can it be then that for months one has hardly paid attention to these places and now, with gazing eyes, is endangering everything for which the population has been held back for almost a year? No one thought it necessary to make schools as safe as possible for teachers and students.

So teachers, educators and children return everything but carefree. You and your parents are left alone with your worries and fears. This is an extremely poor base to make up for all that has been lost in recent months.