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As soon as the new lockdown was announced in Great Britain on Monday evening, the BBC followed up with happier news: The British public service broadcaster would open up "the largest educational offer in its history" - a schooling offensive on television and on the laptop to deal with the consequences of the meanwhile cushion third lockdowns.

Schools in the country are expected to remain closed until at least mid-February after the number of corona cases rose sharply due to a mutation in the virus.

From now on, elementary school students can watch "CBBC", where they will occupy a three-hour block in the morning.

Older students are served on "BBC Two", including adaptations of Shakespeare works or history programs.

There should be online learning formats in various subjects.

All of this was brought to the public with force.

As if on call, Prime Minister Boris Johnson praised the offer as “fantastic”.

Culture Minister Oliver Dowden said the BBC had "helped the country through some of the toughest moments of the past century" and will now support children and their parents - and thus "save lives" in the pandemic.

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The news of the big plans quickly reached Germany via social media.

Left parliamentary group leader Dietmar Bartsch tweeted that “such a school television would also be a useful support for parents and children who pay radio fees when they go home”.

Green MEP Erik Marquardt asked when there would be a similar program in Germany.

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The answer: the program has been around for almost a year.

And in a big way.

The word just didn't seem to get around everywhere.

Inquiries from ARD and ZDF, WDR and BR produce a litany of educational formats that the broadcasters expanded again during lockdown - on TV, in media libraries, via YouTube, as a podcast.

Elaborately produced, with hashtags like #gernelernen or # ZeitFür.

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“The state broadcasters have the difficult situation of schoolchildren, teachers and parents in the pandemic in view,” writes an ARD spokeswoman.

“We are therefore committed to offering the ARD's educational content on the radio, on the internet or in the ARD media library.

Schoolchildren and teachers can find learning opportunities there whenever and as often as they want. "

On linear television, the first half of the day is particularly well-filled during the week.

The

WDR

broadcasts

the

“Planet School”

format on

weekdays from

7.20 am

with weekly focus topics.

This is followed by

“Planet Wissen”

at

10:25 am

at the end of January

and

“Sendung mit der Maus”

an hour later

.

Starting next week, the education channel ARD-alpha will broadcast

the program

“School at home” on

weekdays between 9 a.m. and 12 noon

, the episodes of which can also be viewed online - sorted by grade and topic.

The children's channel (KiKA) is planning “special programming” over the next three weeks.

Large online offer via media libraries and YouTube

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And the Internet is also being upgraded.

The

ZDF

says you have, among other things its offer under the title

"Terra X plus school"

"considerably enhanced" in its library and on the corresponding YouTube channel.

Explanatory

videos

from the subjects of geography, biology, chemistry and physics are added

regularly

.

In the Südwestrundfunk (

SWR

) there is a

special offer for high school graduates in German

with

“Sternchenthemen”

.

The Hessischer Rundfunk (

HR

) updates the

"Kinderfunkkolleg"

.

The

BR

writes, you have to be able to deploy 2,020 "invested in technical infrastructure and server capacities" to get more education.

Among other things, the channel runs an

extensive website

for older schoolchildren

, which explains how journalists report and how to recognize fake news in “so geht MEDIEN”.

Even ski star Felix Neureuther has been brought on

board to compensate for unusual physical education classes as much as possible

with the online program “

Fit with Felix

”.

In Bavaria they are also extremely satisfied with the feedback so far.

A spokesman writes that the media library and YouTube generated more than 10.5 million views between March and December.

ARD-alpha significantly increased the number of its viewers in the first few months of the corona pandemic and temporarily achieved a market share of 5.7 percent among 6 to 19-year-olds in Bavaria.

The offers were advertised via school newsletters, advertisements or reports in subway infotainment systems.

There is no trace of disappointment that the German government, unlike its British counterparts, is not making the offers more public.

That's how it works.

"Interest in educational programs not easy to use"

Elsewhere people are less satisfied.

In spring, at the beginning of the first lockdown, the MDR set up the “school lesson” within a short period of time - which was followed live online by only 350 viewers.

At the WDR, which “offered more educational offers” in the first lockdown, the results were then evaluated and came to a rather sobering result: It had been shown “that interest in linearly broadcast educational programs does not easily increase even when schools are closed operate is ".

Education via television programs, it was concluded, could only be a supplement to distance teaching, not a substitute, even in lockdown.

Because of individual curricula, it is difficult to “tailor” the various age groups and school types as needed.

Nevertheless, in addition to the existing offers, the editorial team is examining other ideas to reach students and teachers.

This is well received by politicians with a keen interest in the media: “In times when people do not skimp on criticism of the public service, this offer is an important sign,” says the media policy spokeswoman for the Union parliamentary group, Elisabeth Motschmann - not without another one let go of a subtle swipe at the channels.

"The corona pandemic also offers public broadcasters an opportunity to focus on the core mission of information, culture and education."