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Düsseldorf (dpa / lnw) - The so-called lollipop tests that start this Monday in elementary and special schools should initially run until the summer holidays. The NRW school ministry believes a continuation of the new corona tests in the new school year is conceivable: "We can very well imagine the project after the summer holidays," said North Rhine-Westphalia's school minister Yvonne Gebauer (FDP) on Friday in an online Press conference. "We can carry out this project until the end of the year if it is necessary," said State Secretary Mathias Richter. The project is financed until the summer vacation. Then you want to look at the further development of the pandemic in order to decide “whether you need it after the summer holidays for stable and successful protection for the next school year”.
NRW wants to be the first federal state to introduce the saliva tests across the board this Monday. All of the more than 730,000 pupils in almost 3800 primary and special schools are to be tested for the coronavirus in their study group twice a week with the Lolli test. The testing is initially carried out in groups. Only when a group has tested positive are group members tested individually. "The lollipop tests will help us to detect infections earlier than with self-tests and to break infection chains in schools from the outset," said Gebauer. The tests are called lollipop tests because students have to suck on the test stick like a lollipop for 30 seconds.
The teachers' union Association of Education and Upbringing (VBE) NRW welcomed the introduction of the new test method.
“There is no doubt that the lollipop tests are more child and age-appropriate than the previous rapid tests - that is definitely a step forward,” explained VBE state chairman Stefan Behlau.
There is, however, a need for optimization in the feedback on results in order to relieve school administrators in particular.
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Information about the lollipop tests