With the start of school in North Rhine-Westphalia on Monday, lessons in the twenty schools sponsored by the Archdiocese of Paderborn will also begin. “We don’t have any special regulations. We strictly adhere to the state’s requirements for the Corona Ordinance, ”explains Eva Jansen, head of the independent Catholic schools department at the Archbishop’s General Vicariate in Paderborn.
The regulations were updated in the Prime Minister’s Conference on Friday. In North Rhine-Westphalia, for the time being, the rule is that the obligation to test in schools will be expanded: According to this, vaccinated and convalescent people must take part in the regular tests in schools. This applies equally to pupils, teachers and other staff.
“We are well prepared for the year 2022 to keep the school going,” says Eva Jansen, referring to the purchase of air filters for the classrooms in all schools sponsored by the Archdiocese of Paderborn. The 650 mobile air purification devices worth around two million euros were financed from church tax funds and are intended to ensure classroom teaching despite the increasing pandemic. In addition, good progress has been made in digitization.
katho Paderborn has been in operation since Wednesday
The Catholic University of Applied Sciences in North Rhine-Westphalia, Paderborn site, resumed operations on January 6th. The shareholders of katho NRW are the (arch) dioceses of Aachen, Cologne, Münster, Osnabrück and Paderborn. Since the students, teachers and employees in the theology department, for example, are almost completely vaccinated, face-to-face teaching is possible if the “3G rule” is complied with, confirms Prof. Dr. Kai G. Sander, Dean of the Theology Department at the Katho NRW in Paderborn.
“For me, vaccination is the only way out of this pandemic! I have a high level of confidence in the efficiency of modern medicine and health care and, in my opinion, there are no reasonable doubts about vaccination. This assessment is also shared by the students, who also see it as a measure of social solidarity and charity to be vaccinated in order to protect others as well. Vaccination is the only responsible way of being really close to people, especially for those involved in pastoral care and the community, ”says Professor Sander.
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