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The new year begins for teachers, parents and students as it ended.

With waiting.

Waiting for the overloaded e-learning platform to start up again.

Wait until the printer spits out the scanned worksheets.

And wait for the education ministers to decide what to do with schools and daycare centers in the second year of the pandemic.

Practically nothing has happened so far.

There is still a lack of concepts for safe education and care.

There is still no long-term strategy that gives families and educators planning security.

Good ideas for hybrid or digital lessons of individual schools or teachers are either not feasible because rooms are missing, the WLAN will not be installed until 2023 or there is a lack of data protection.

Or they were sacrificed on the altar of classroom teaching.

The ministers of culture can be credited with the fact that with their stubborn attendance course they wanted to keep the promise made in the summer to only close schools again in dire need.

It has now occurred: the virus has mutated, the intensive care units are full.

Opening schools and daycare centers seems too risky.

That is understandable.

It is completely incomprehensible that the last six months were not used to prepare.

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For months, experts had pointed out the lack of digitization, but also pointed out that digital learning is not particularly suitable for younger children.

But instead of developing age-differentiated concepts that take into account the protection of educators, for example through quick tests or the participation of student teachers, all schools remained in regular operation.

Until it was no longer possible.

Either you react like Ireland or France, leaving daycare centers and schools open, especially for younger children, even if the incidence is high, and restricting adults more.

Or you decide that schools also have to make their contribution to fighting the pandemic and switch to digital teaching.

Not doing one thing and leaving the other behind is a declaration of bankruptcy for Germany as an educational location.