The high number of respiratory infections is particularly noticeable in schools in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The CDU sees massive omissions in the Ministry of Education.
Schwerin (dpa / mv) – According to the CDU, the Ministry of Education in Schwerin reacted too late and insufficiently to the many cases of illness in the schools. “The wave of illnesses has been sweeping through Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania throughout December. The Ministry of Education preferred to ignore this,” said CDU member of the state parliament Torsten Renz on Tuesday in Schwerin. Neither the sick leave was currently recorded, nor had precautionary measures been taken. “Responsibility is being passed on to the schools. How the school material that has now been missed again is to be made up for in addition to the corona gaps – nobody knows,” Renz continued.
He was reacting to the announcement by Education Minister Simone Oldenburg (left) that the three-phase model developed for the Corona crisis would be temporarily expanded due to the high number of infectious diseases. According to this, depending on the availability of the teachers, schools can also go into distance or alternating lessons from grade seven. In grades one to six, even if there are limited teaching staff, emergency care should be offered if necessary. According to Oldenburg’s estimates, about a third of the teachers on average were absent due to their own illness or the illness of family members in need of care.
Renz Oldenburg agreed that distance learning is better than no lessons at all. “But the way distance learning is currently organized in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, it’s mostly non-teaching,” said the opposition politician. It still depends on the school authority whether the schools have stable and powerful Internet access and can thus technically secure distance learning. The deficits were evident during the corona pandemic, but have not yet been sufficiently remedied. Renz warned that the new year must be used to enable schools to do real distance learning.
The State Parents’ Council supported the ministry’s approach. Because now there is legal clarity about when who is taught how, said the association’s chairman Kay Czerwinski of the “Ostsee-Zeitung” (Tuesday). Recently, especially in the upper classes, there has been more self-occupation than teaching. After the winter holidays in February, it will become clear whether the measures have had the desired effects.
