Karl Lauterbach no longer sits on talk shows as often as he used to, before he became Federal Minister of Health.

But the other day he was back with Anne Will, and he really worked up a sweat.

Because the hundred-page report commissioned by the government on the effectiveness of the various corona measures had not only recently uncovered the catastrophic data situation in Germany - due to the strict data protection in this country, many things cannot even be recorded, which may be life-changing findings could bring to light.

Despite its vagueness, the paper also revealed some findings: that masks make more sense indoors, but that school closures are rather questionable.

Sandra Kegel

Responsible editor for the feuilleton.

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And what did Lauterbach say about that?

That he also considers school closures to be “very unlikely”, even if the corona situation should get much worse in autumn, but on the other hand we should be prepared for all scenarios, which is why he does not want to “categorically rule out” any individual measure.

So far so bad.

So is it going to be another nail-biter for the students?

Where are the ventilation systems?

"Zitterpartie" has just been brought up for discussion by the teachers' association, because according to him, even in the third year of the pandemic, politicians have not managed to prepare the schools for the expected increase in the number of infections in autumn.

The ventilation systems that are so urgently needed are still castles in the air.

And there is also a black hole when there is talk of digitizing schools to enable homeschooling worthy of the name in an emergency.

If face-to-face classes were to take place when the incidence was high, good old airing would be necessary again, as if the children hadn’t been brooding over algebra or Latin in their anoraks during the last winter months.

On the other hand, if distance learning were to come back, students would be left behind again, just like in the lockdowns before.

Just in time for the start of the holidays, the news from the Education and Training Association caught us cold, warning again of closures in autumn.

Schools are still “not a safe place to learn”, which is why they run the risk of being closed, as the association’s chairman Udo Beckmann now told the editorial network Germany.

The acute shortage of teachers and the scenario of possible gas shortages in autumn do not make matters any more gratifying.

Children have a right to education

It should go without saying that schools should be given priority with gas if the emergency level is declared.

The fact that the approximately 10.9 million German schoolchildren who have not been able to learn and live as they are entitled to in the last two years, but who have to face new school closures, is no longer conveyable.

Children have a right to education, and the disastrous consequences of school closures have long been known, when a fifth of all fourth graders cannot read properly, a third cannot write properly and mathematics is not doing well either, as recent studies have shown.

Germany has subjected its students to a particularly strict lockdown compared to other countries such as Switzerland, Ireland, Spain or Sweden.

Even when it became apparent that schools are not drivers of infection and that children have a significantly lower risk of becoming seriously ill with Corona, the gates remained closed.

According to official information, from the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020 to mid-2021, the schools were completely or partially closed on 183 days, with around 190 school days per year.

In France, students stayed home only for forty days, and restricted operations followed for sixteen days.

Children are under special protection.

The pandemic has already dramatically intervened in its development.

Sure, many will catch up with and overcome the deficits and burdens, but by no means all of them.

So let's look at the children.

Last year, even dogs were allowed back into their schools earlier than they were.

We knew that lessons are important in school.

The pandemic has taught us how important it is.