In the dispute over the Abitur exams in Berlin, Education Senator Sandra Scheeres (SPD) wrote a letter directly on Thursday to this year’s more than 12,000 high school graduates. In it, she sought understanding that she wanted to carry out the exams as planned despite the corona crisis – and referred to the vote of the Conference of Ministers of Education.
At the end of March, she had spoken out in favor of holding the exams all over Germany. Last Friday, Scheeres confirmed this and announced that Berlin high school graduates would have to be prepared for the exams to start on April 20, right after the Easter break. Schools are taking a number of precautions to ensure that there is no increased risk of infection. It is important to the Senator that all federal states act in a uniform manner. In the coming week, the ministers of culture want to vote again, whether they pursue their intention from the end of March or come to a different assessment of the situation.
“It is only through mutual recognition that we can ensure that all graduates in Berlin can apply for a place in Baden-Württemberg, North Rhine-Westphalia or Bavaria with this year’s degree,” Scheeres emphasized in her letter. Therefore, a joint action by the federal states is “essential”.
She was “aware that many students are not only looking forward to their exams in Berlin this year and under the current circumstances”. Protection of their health and that of educational staff is therefore given priority when organizing the exams.
Scheeres warned against “going it alone in Berlin – or even a smaller group of federal states”. Because this “would limit the future and mobility opportunities of your entire graduation year massively and permanently”, says in the letter, which is fully available here. Those who are concerned that he was unable to prepare optimally for the exams should contact the teachers, the school management or a school psychological counseling center (SIBUZ) if they need advice.
Senator doubts the opinion of the student committee
Scheeres expressly thanked the state student committee for “dealing intensively with the current situation and representing his positions”, but stated in her letter that this engagement was accepted very differently according to her “observation” among the Berlin student population will”.
The State Student Committee (LSA) reacted promptly: The letter from the senator was understood as an attempt to “keep the Berlin student population from fighting,” said the afternoon’s chairman Miguel Góngora. The senator should write “no empty letters”, but find solutions. If Berlin should not choose to go it alone, it would be Scheere’s task “to stand up for her state in the Conference of Ministers of Education”.
As reported, the LSA positioned itself against the exams after appropriate signals had come from the student body. According to the LSA, around 160 of the around 200 schools that take the Abitur had recently opted not to take the exams as planned: Góngora says it is in contact with the respective student representatives and conducts surveys at the same time.
Committee: Many are afraid or “queasy”
According to the LSA, more than 10,000 students took part in the last survey. Almost 5,000 responses were received after just two hours of the survey. The districts are all “relatively equally represented” in the survey, it said in a message from the LSA on Thursday.
Accordingly, over 90 percent of the survey participants do not believe “that the Senate administration can ensure that the risk of infection is minimal”. Many would take the exam with fear or a “very queasy feeling because they fear they could infect themselves or their relatives”.
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Overall, 85 percent of the candidates – mostly high school graduates, otherwise tenth graders who are supposed to graduate from secondary school (MSA) – would refuse to take the exams in this form and demand that individual or all exams be canceled.
The LSA emphasized that it would “not move an inch from our task as the State Schools Committee” and would continue to act against the decision to take the Abitur exams.
Student representatives report to the Tagesspiegel
The representatives of several schools that have voted against the exams have also been registering at the Tagesspiegel for days, including most recently the Spandauer Heinrich-Böll and Schöneberg Sophie-Scholl secondary schools, from Charlottenburg the Friedensburg secondary school and the Schiller high school, the Merian Secondary school from Köpenick and the high school graduates of the Dreilinden-Gymnasium in Zehlendorf.
The Dreilinden students and Merian students point out that just under a fifth of the high school graduates or their parents belonged to a risk group, at the Merian School even three quarters of the parents belong to a risk group, like the three high school speakers on Thursday wrote together with the Head Girl in her letter to Stefanie Hubig, President of the Conference of Ministers of Education.
A single Dreilinden high school graduate wrote to Tagesspiegel that she would like to take the exams. The student representative from the Catholic Liebfrauen-Schule voted for the year in a letter to the Tagesspiegel for the exams.
Representatives of all school types vote against the exams
After the association of senior study directors (VOB) and the representation of interests of secondary schools (BISSS), the network of community schools in Berlin has now also spoken out against the MSA exams and the exams for vocational qualification.
“Until about 25 years ago, these exams did not exist in Berlin. The graduates at that time generally became full members of society even without these exams,” argued on behalf of the network spokesman Robert Giese, who the Fritz-Karsen team from Neukölln -Community school heads. The Abitur exams should also be avoided, “provided that the Kultusministerkonferenz accepts this and thus recognizes the Berlin Abitur nationwide”.
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