Politicians and scientists are calling for more child-friendly vaccination options – for example in the classroom or in zoos.
(Photo: imago images / Political-Moments)
Berlin With a view to the increasing number of infections, especially due to the Omikron variant, the chairman of the education committee in the Bundestag, Kai Gehring, calls for “far more child-friendly vaccination options – not only in schools, but also in zoos, sports clubs and libraries”. While in earlier decades vaccinations in schools were “a matter of course for health protection, something has been lost here culturally,” said the Green politician to the Handelsblatt.
In addition, “the parents must be informed and advertised for the vaccination” at schools far more than before, ”Gehring demanded before the crisis meeting of the ministers of education on Wednesday.
The ministers of education get together for an extraordinary meeting to discuss how to deal with the resurfacing pandemic. So far, almost all countries want to start face-to-face classes this week or next as planned.
Only Thuringia’s minister of education, Helmut Holter (left), in whose federal state the incidences reach top values, had ordered distance lessons to “get ahead of the wave”. However, he had to row back because there is no longer any legal basis for this after the official expiry of the so-called pandemic situation under the Infection Protection Act.
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Instead, the schools should now decide: “Because I can’t decide that, I’ve delegated it to the schools. And I know that it means a further burden on the school management, ”said Holter on Deutschlandfunk.
Otherwise, both the new chairman of the Standing Conference (KMK), Schleswig-Holstein’s School Minister Karin Prien (CDU), and Federal Education Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger (FDP) are pushing for face-to-face teaching to continue as long as possible. Prien suggested nationwide vaccinations in schools that already exist in your country.
GEW calls for shorter quarantine for teachers
The education and science union called for the quarantine to be shortened for teachers as well, in order to be able to ensure classes. The Association of Vocational School Teachers calls for the consistent use of all hygiene options, otherwise vocational school lessons – similar to the economy – could “collapse” due to the many absent teachers, warned Chairman Joachim Maiß. It is true that vocational school students can also be taught online for a certain period of time, but this is still often not possible due to “still a lack of digital equipment, a lack of gigabit connectivity in the area and data protection problems”.
Gehring von den Grünen appealed to the federal states and municipalities “to better support the schools in implementing the measures that have been in place for months – from daily tests to mask requirements to air filters and alternating instruction – in order to ensure classroom teaching as long as possible”. Otherwise, “the already educationally disadvantaged students who suffered most from the pandemic were in danger of being left behind”.
Gehring criticized the digital pact as well as the federal government’s air filter and catch-up programs as “too late and initially too complicated”; more flexibility and speed are needed here. In the medium term, however, fundamental structural deficiencies would also have to be remedied on site, such as “that all windows in the schools can be opened, fast internet is available and toilets are renovated”.
More: The new Federal Minister of Education, Bettina Stark-Watzinger, wants to finally accelerate the digitization of schools and reduce bureaucracy.