The first two weeks of the new school year will be the most exciting.

"Your course will determine the rest of the school year," said Minister of Education Alexander Lorz (CDU) in a press conference on Friday.

In the federal states in which the summer vacation ended earlier, the "problem of returning travelers" had a significant impact on the pandemic development.

The same thing happened before the second wave.

Lorz therefore wants to stick to the two "prevention weeks".

They provide three tests a week instead of two.

A medical mask must be worn on site during class.

It is strongly recommended for school enrollment celebrations and similar outdoor events.

Ewald Hetrodt

Correspondent for the Rhein-Main-Zeitung in Wiesbaden.

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As a “benefit” for the students, Lorz presented a small booklet in which antigen self-tests and regular participation in the school's mandatory protection concept are certified.

For unvaccinated and non-recovered adolescents, it replaces the negative proof of a certified test center and can be used throughout Hesse, for example when visiting a cinema or restaurant privately.

Students would have to catch up on learning material

According to the minister, around 43,000 Hessian schoolchildren benefited from the opportunities to catch up on missed learning material during the summer holidays. The federal and state governments also made around 150 million euros available for the “Löwenstark” program, which for the next two school years provides for additional study times, homework supervision and double occupation in the classroom, among other things. It is supported by a dense network of extracurricular cooperation partners, said Lorz. He wants to gradually say goodbye to the flat-rate or simplified transfer introduced during the pandemic. "We should talk about it at the beginning of next year."

Even during the Corona period, the cultural administration did not neglect the "core business", said Lorz.

The need for teachers is still high at elementary, special and vocational schools, especially in the Rhine-Main area.

But the efforts to recruit staff have already resulted in a gradual easing of the situation “across the country”.

Further qualifications for employment in other teaching posts, lateral entry programs and more study places made significant contributions to this.

In the new school year, the number of Hessian students increases by around 1500 to 761,500.

The number of teachers increases by 70 to 55,540.

In addition, 140 additional social workers are deployed.

Since he took office in 2014, there have been around 2,500 fewer students, but 5,000 more teaching positions, reported Lorz.

In the new school year, pupils “with and without a migration background” are to be given more support in learning German.

According to the black-green coalition agreement, there are mandatory preparatory courses for preschool children with difficulties in German and an additional German lesson in the fourth grade.

It should serve as preparation for the transfer to the secondary school.

From the second semester of the first grade onwards, “writing by ear” is expressly no longer permitted.

A "pedagogically motivated error correction" is introduced, in which incorrect spelling is corrected by adding the correct spelling.

To promote reading, a minimum number of reading is required for lower secondary level.

"Shortage of young talent threatening"

The all-day expansion is progressing continuously, says Lorz. Nine out of ten secondary schools and more than two-thirds of all primary schools now have a program with reliable educational and care options. In the “Pact for the Afternoon”, a joint program between the state and the school authorities, 51 additional primary schools would be included in the new school year.

Christoph Degen, the school policy spokesman for the SPD parliamentary group in the state parliament, on the other hand, said that Lorz would have a problem if in a few years the legal right to all-day care in elementary school sets in. To this day, the minister of education cannot explain how he will create the 50,000 additional full-day places in elementary schools that will then be required. "It's no longer about keeping the primary school children and somehow employing them - it's about all-day educational offers." And Hessen will not have that as the school system is currently set up. There are still too few teachers. Seven years after Lorz took office, the shortage of young talent is threatening, criticized Degen.