The slogans are not missing in any good politician speech, even before and during the pandemic: The young people in Germany are our capital, education is the raw material of the export champion Germany. Would you like some examples? “Children must not be the losers of the corona pandemic” (Chancellor Angela Merkel in September last year). Similar sentences came from all prime ministers, party leaders, ministers. After all, Vice Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Minister of Finance in the current government, has now admitted: The closure of schools in the first Corona lockdown in spring 2020 was a mistake. “That was a decision that I found very difficult,” said Scholz, referring to the burdens for children and young people and their parents. After all, someone says that.
For over a year, pupils, teachers and parents have been torn between classroom, distance and alternating lessons. The regulations were different and confusing from federal state to federal state. After all, education in Germany is a state matter. Then finally, in the middle of April this year, the regulations were standardized, with an incidence of over 165 the schools and day-care centers remained closed. Once again.
Berlin just stays with alternating classes
Now the number of infections is falling rapidly, the countries are again allowed to decide what they want to do alone. And the students are at least given the prospect of being able to go to school again before the summer holidays, for example in North Rhine-Westphalia, but also in Brandenburg and other countries. But not in the capital, in Berlin. There it remains until the beginning of the summer vacation on June 24th with alternating lessons – i.e. with a limited number of children in school while the others stay at home. No matter how much the incidence drops.
DW capital correspondent Jens Thurau
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At the same time, restaurants in the outdoor area are opening again, and cultural events are gradually becoming possible. The reason given by the Berlin Senate for the ongoing restrictions on schools speaks volumes: students, teachers and parents should take a deep breath and should not be overwhelmed. In a nutshell, we can no longer leave everything as it is and start again after the summer vacation.
This is an oath of disclosure for politics. Even before the pandemic, the condition of many schools was bad, teachers were overwhelmed and parents at a loss. That has increased in the pandemic. The digital equipment in many schools is a mockery for a country as rich as Germany, and more than a few politicians have repeatedly unabashedly portrayed students as the number one infection driver without being able to substantiate it. Even the Chancellor suggested in between that children should only be allowed to meet with a boyfriend or girlfriend – a strangely alien idea that was quickly cashed out. And yet it showed how important young people really are in Germany.
The “catch-up program”: a descriptive name
Of course, the pandemic also had to be fought in schools, but the impression remained that hardly any area was tackled with such severity as that of schools and daycare centers. At the same time, all ideas to make things easier for the students, such as making exams easier, were rejected outright. Now the government wants to help with a two billion program: money for better tuition, money for urgently needed psychological support.
From above, this year’s Abitur exams look like every year – when it comes to exams, “keep your distance!”
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Significantly, the measure was called the “catch-up program”. After all, it is the students who now have to catch up. And it is also significant how the government is dealing with the resignation of Family Minister Franziska Giffey from the SPD this week: Justice Minister Christine Lambrecht will simply do the job until the federal election. It is hard to imagine that the Foreign Office would have been dealt with like that.
More respect for an important phase in life
Hope remains for the time after the pandemic: Germany must finally take education, schools, parents and teachers more seriously. All sections of the population suffered in the pandemic, under bans on contact and restrictions. But the corona crisis hit children and schoolchildren at a crucial phase in their lives: at a time when personalities are developing and friendships are being formed for life. All of this takes place in schools and day care centers. It would really be a consolation if the pandemic (if we hopefully will soon be over) could at least bring about that: that we take our young people and their needs more seriously.
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