The last week of school was almost like in earlier times.

Like before Corona.

There were overnight parties in the school building.

Classes had breakfast together with a farewell buffet, to which one contributed the cornflakes and the other the cooked ham.

Other groups watched animated films or went to the playground, after all, the notes were made.

For most of them, the certificates were not provided with a time delay, but on Friday in the third hour.

Schoolchildren and teachers have the feeling that they now urgently need the summer vacation.

Despite the pandemic that stole so much of what school is all about.

Or just because of Corona.

The lockdown has sapped your strength and torn your nerves.

Florentine Fritzen

Editor in the Rhein-Main-Zeitung.

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Concern creeps into the longing for relaxation in adults, adolescents and many children.

What comes after the holidays?

The fears go in two directions.

Some ask whether the almost normal everyday life can be continued after the holidays.

Or whether the schools have to close again, completely or halfway, so with alternating lessons.

At the moment, children and young people are allowed to take off their masks at the square.

The younger they are, the more often they do this. After the holidays everyone has to wear masks again for at least two weeks, and they are tested three times instead of twice.

The fear continues

The Hessian Minister of Education Alexander Lorz (CDU) also wants more teachers to be vaccinated. Mothers and fathers should discuss with general practitioners and paediatricians whether vaccination is an option for their teenagers. Together with tests and masks, this should help prevent as many infections as possible until there is perhaps a vaccine for children under the age of twelve. The troubled ask whether that will be enough. Some answer the question in the negative, for some the air filters should fix it. But the country does not want to order this for everyone. Cities and districts, however, often do not call up the money for this because they shy away from the additional costs. Or doubt the benefit. So in autumn many girls and boys will be sitting in the classroom with scarves and thick jackets because the windows are open.

The others say: The main thing is that they are allowed to sit there at all.

If a Delta, Epsilon or Zeta variant is rampant, air filters should not prevent schools from closing again.

The fear continues.

But with increasing normality and the vaccination rate, it is not just about whether or not school life is to be found, but also about how.

How should it go on in schools?

What is important now to make up for what has been lost and to equip the children and young people?

Many points can be listed here, but five of them are particularly important.

First: support and challenge.

Second: educators.

Third: equipment.

Fourth, education.

And fifth: community.

Even the strong became weaker

"Strong as a lion" is the name of the Hessian catch-up program. There are remedial courses, individual learning support in the classroom, homework support, online tutoring and for those who are not too tired now, learning camps during the holidays. Again and again there is talk of the scissors, which have widened further as a result of the pandemic. The story goes like this: Some had equipment and a garden in lockdown, as well as parents in the home office who could explain everything from algebra to ancient Greek. The others went into the two-room apartments of their precarious families, gambled in their pajamas and got even fatter.

But it was not like that. Youth psychotherapists, for example, also report on well-off families in which one parent became depressed in the pandemic and the children suffered. Even high-performing young people could no longer motivate themselves for every video conference. And even those who played tennis three times a week instead of school or made patisserie works of art not only benefited from the Corona period. Funding is important. But not more important than demanding. The intermediate, good and very good students also need help now. For some, it's more about getting them back on track. Others face challenges. Otherwise they will be bored every single day of school.