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Initially, it was supposed to be an attempt to bring a little more security into everyday school life.

In the week after the Christmas holidays, according to the federal and state decision in mid-December, schools should first start distance learning - at least until the previous lockdown period of January 10th.

In many federal states, the first day of school after the holidays is January 11th anyway.

That date is now getting closer.

But no one believes in an end to the restrictions.

Chancellery chief Helge Braun considers an extension of the corona lockdown beyond January 10th to be likely;

Health Minister Jens Spahn (both CDU) and several prime ministers have made similar statements.

It would be unusual for schools to make an exception.

"It will be months before so many people are vaccinated"

Lothar Wieler and Jens Spahn, together with the President of the Paul Ehrlich Institute, Klaus Cichutek, informed about the current corona situation and the start of vaccination.

See the summary of the press conference here.

Source: WORLD

"A return to face-to-face teaching in regular operation would be completely irresponsible given the current infection rate in many regions," says Ilka Hoffmann, member of the board of the Education and Science Union (GEW) responsible for schools, in an interview with WELT.

"We have long been calling for the guidelines of the Robert Koch Institute to be implemented, ie alternating lessons in small groups and at a distance."

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The head of the German Teachers' Association, Heinz-Peter Meidinger, has a similar opinion.

"Since the number of infections is still very high, the German Teachers' Association cannot imagine returning to full face-to-face teaching as early as mid-January, incidentally not in primary schools either." He warned, "Finally, to submit a hygiene level plan for schools again science-based incidence values ​​is coupled ".

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It is still unclear how things will continue in schools after January 10th.

Next Tuesday, Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) and the state premiers will talk about further corona measures, and the ministers of education will meet on Monday to discuss schools.

But there are already lively coordination discussions in advance.

The aim is to develop as uniform a route as possible, can be heard from the countries.

And that could be: elementary school students and graduating classes first.

"As much classroom teaching as possible"

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“The Standing Conference (KMK) is fundamentally in favor of schools being open.

Because all children have the right to education and social participation ”, says the

Brandenburg

Education Minister Britta Ernst (SPD), who will take over the chairmanship of the KMK in January.

"Schools have made their contribution to reducing contacts," she tells WELT.

How things will go in January will have to be weighed again in the coming week against the background of the then known infection process.

But while many department heads do not dare to take cover before the meeting, others are already rushing forward.

Above all, the

Baden-Württemberg

Minister of Education, Susanne Eisenmann (CDU).

Above all, she advocates bringing the lower grades back to schools quickly.

“There is no substitute for classroom teaching,” says Eisenmann.

"I strongly advocate reopening daycare centers and elementary schools for face-to-face operations from January 11th and paying special attention to grades five to seven and the final grades when making the upcoming decision."

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According to Eisenmann, digital lessons are basically not possible, especially with smaller children in primary school.

The assessments of child psychologists and paediatricians also showed how important face-to-face teaching is.

"I am therefore also in favor of giving educational and care facilities a special status when opening the door." According to what is known so far, schools and daycare centers are "still not drivers of infection," says Eisenmann.

Also,

Mecklenburg-Vorpommern

Education Minister Bettina Martin (SPD) insists on the resumption of regular classes from 11 January.

"Our goal is to offer as much face-to-face teaching as possible - especially for the final grades and the younger grades," said the minister of the "Schweriner Volkszeitung" newspaper.

The

Rhineland-Palatinate

Minister of Education, Stefanie Hubig, has a

similar

view.

"As an education politician, my goal is to enable school to go back to school as soon as possible - if need be, only for younger children and the graduating classes," says the SPD politician WELT.

First of all, all schools in Rhineland-Palatinate stayed in distance learning until January 15th.

Teachers, parents and students demand early announcements

The Standing Conference does not want to wait for the federal-state summit.

They want to advise on how things should continue after the Christmas holidays.

But that is not enough for educational and student representatives.

Source: WELT / Lena Mosel

Lower Saxony

submitted its restart plans before the Christmas holidays.

From January 11, school operations are to be resumed with increased protective measures.

In elementary school and in the Abitur graduation classes, face-to-face tuition with a mask requirement prevails, from grade five onwards the classes are divided and the children switch between face-to-face and distance tuition.

Hamburg

, on the other hand, has suspended the compulsory attendance in all schools until at least January 17th.

“We don't know at the moment how successful the lockdown will be.

But due to the persistently high number of infections, it can currently be assumed that the schools in Hamburg, as in the other federal states, will not return to regular face-to-face teaching in January, ”says school senator Ties Rabe (SPD).

People in

Bavaria

are also skeptical.

“Face-to-face teaching is of course what many parents, students and teachers would like.

But first we have to see how quickly the lockdown takes effect.

The number of infections must decrease, ”says the Bavarian Minister of Culture Michael Piazolo (Free Voters) WELT.

"I can imagine that we will initially need some alternating lessons."

Thuringia's

minister of education, Helmut Holter (left), also expects a mix of lessons at home and at school.

In his opinion, all students in grades one to six and all final grades should first return to schools.

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Bremen

wants to suspend the compulsory attendance in the week from January 11th to 15th and offer all students and employees a voluntary and free test option.

"With this we want to make an additional contribution to a safe start to school after the Christmas holidays," says the education administration.

From the

Hessian

Ministry of Culture, it is said that as much face-to-face teaching as possible has "top priority for educational reasons and for social interaction".

Depending on the pandemic situation, there are gradual, coordinated lessons in Hesse - from restricted regular operation with face-to-face lessons to alternating lessons with divided classes to pure distance lessons.

Similar in

North Rhine-Westphalia

: "I very much hope that the number of infections will decrease significantly and that after January 10, 2021, schools will be able to run on the basis of the tiered model and with as much classroom teaching as possible," says Minister of Education Yvonne Gebauer (FDP) WELT.

"We don't want to have a Corona generation"

The commitment to face-to-face teaching has met with harsh criticism from the Education and Science Union.

“It is sometimes pretended that schools are the only place where there can be no infection.

That is of course not the case, ”says board member Ilka Hoffmann.

The ministers of culture are not very insightful, criticizes Hoffmann: "They pray down the mantra of face-to-face teaching and want to cover up the fact that the topic of digitization and hybrid teaching has been overslept in the past."

Teachers' Association President Meidinger is also calling for a master plan on how the deficits from the limited school operations in pandemic times are to be compensated.

"This also includes dealing with final exams and the extent to which certain groups of pupils can be offered an additional year on a voluntary basis."

The cutting down of curricula and simplified examination requirements are ultimately only superficial pain therapy: "They do not solve the basic problem that we do not want to have a Corona generation that is released into life with poorer educational tools."

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