According to the Munich Ifo Institute, children and adolescents in Germany were particularly affected by the school closings prescribed in the corona pandemic in an international comparison. It also shows that the restrictions for school children were often greater than for adult workers, the institute said on Tuesday. "Other countries in Europe placed greater emphasis on keeping schools largely open," said Ifo researcher Larissa Zierow. In addition, other countries were better equipped for digital distance learning.

According to its own information, the institute compared Germany's corona education policy with six other European countries. Schools in the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden were closed significantly shorter than in Germany. In France, for example, there was an obligation to work from home if it was possible to work from home. In addition, the exit restrictions for adults were stricter than for school children.

Other countries have been using digital technologies in schools for several years, which would have made it easier for them to switch to distance teaching and thus better provide students with knowledge. "When it comes to digital teaching, Germany is at the bottom of the list," explained Zierow. For German school children, online lessons have taken place comparatively rarely. The learning gap is particularly high for those with lower levels of achievement. Repeated school closings would have drastic consequences, especially for disadvantaged school children.

The voice from research hits at a time of renewed debates about school closings.

Very recently, on Tuesday, the Federal Constitutional Court declared school closings linked to certain incidences in the spring based on the federal emergency brake applicable from the end of April to the end of June to be legal and dismissed complaints from students and parents against it.

The court also referred to the special situation in the spring with vaccinations that have just started.

Teachers' association open to repeated closings

The German Teachers Association welcomed the verdict. It creates the necessary legal clarity, said association president Heinz-Peter Meidinger of the news agency dpa. "School closings are therefore constitutional as an 'ultima ratio' if they serve the higher-ranking protection mandate of the state for life and health and there are no milder measures with the same effect," said Meidinger. In this context, he described it as a “serious political mistake” that the traffic light parties had ruled out general school closings with the amendment to the Infection Protection Act.

Nobody, not even the teachers' association, wants another, long-lasting phase of distance teaching.

"But to leave schools completely outside of a possibly necessary renewed temporary lockdown, even though we have the highest incidences in this age group and schools are hubs of the pandemic, would be just as wrong."

The association rejects extended Christmas holidays, as decided in Brandenburg and Saxony-Anhalt, if they are "not embedded in comprehensive measures of contact restrictions in society as a whole, for example a simultaneous short lockdown".

Otherwise, such an extension of the vacation will not have much effect.

Union wants educational institutions to remain open

In the current Corona situation, the Education and Science Union (GEW) appeals to politicians to consider possible school closings last. "That mass events take place and schools are closed, that is not possible," said the union chairman Maike Finnern. "But if we see that the restrictions on cancellations or a reduction in mass events are not enough, then it may be in individual areas that we can talk about it have to think about sending schools to distance learning for one or two weeks. "

She spoke of individual cases in which this could be necessary.

"But there must be no closure for several weeks or months, as we did last winter." The priority must be that everyone who could be vaccinated get vaccinated and that contacts are reduced.

Schools should be kept in operation as long as possible.

“Everything must be done to keep educational institutions open.

And that means, of course, that something like the requirement to wear a mask in class must now be in place, ”said Finnern.

There are federal states that have still not reintroduced them.