Potsdam (dpa / bb) – After the primary schools, the secondary schools will also open for alternate classes on Monday (15 March) in Brandenburg. At the beginning, the country wants to offer more rapid corona tests than self-tests. The state parliament’s budget committee decided on Tuesday to expand the testing options at the facilities. The offer: Both teachers and pupils should be able to test themselves once a week in schools. “This is a matter of concern to us in order to expand protection in schools, but it is also an implementation of the MPK decision,” said Education Minister Britta Ernst (SPD) in the budget committee.
The state’s free offer is to apply until the end of the current school year (June 24th). For this, the state wants to provide a maximum amount of a total of 28.3 million euros. The costs will be borne by the country’s 2021 rescue package.
A first order for almost 300,000 self-tests in the amount of around 1.6 million euros has already been placed with Roche, which has made a quick offer, reported Minister Ernst. This could cover the first week. The tests are to be delivered to a central location in Brandenburg this week and then distributed to the schools so that they are available at the start of school. Further orders to other companies for the delivery of more rapid tests are to be awarded soon.
Finance Minister Katrin Lange (SPD) said it was an unscheduled expenditure. It is imperative that you hurry so that you can quickly start school. It is not yet clear how the rapid test offer will be accepted. The Ministry of Education should report to the Ministry of Finance on a monthly basis.
All teachers at schools in Brandenburg have been able to have themselves tested by general practitioners free of charge since autumn 2020. To this end, the state has reached an agreement with the Brandenburg Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (KVBB). In the field of child and youth welfare, quick tests and self-tests have been financially supported by the state twice a week since the beginning of February 2021.
Before the schools are reopened, there is sharp criticism from the teachers’ union GEW and the main staff council. They call for an expansion of vaccination offers for teachers. “Neither do all teachers receive a vaccination offer, nor are the regulations for regular voluntary testing in the schools in place,” said GEW boss Günther Fuchs on Tuesday. It is a political scandal that there is still no reliable test concept for teachers and students. Should the vaccination and test strategy not be adapted accordingly before the expansion of the teaching offers, the Ministry of Education acts “grossly negligent”.
The vaccination offer for the teachers is an “indispensable prerequisite for the further opening of the schools by changing models”, said Fuchs further. Without the possibility of being able to protect themselves against infection with a vaccination, there is a significantly increased health risk for the teachers. “It must be clear to everyone that this is playing with fire and that the health of the teachers involved is being treated lightly.”
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