In Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, the one-week autumn vacation is coming to an end. Meanwhile, the number of corona infections in the country has increased. This initially has no effect on the protective measures in schools.
Schwerin (dpa/mv) – For around 160,000 students at general schools in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, classes will start again on Monday after a week-long break. As the Ministry of Education in Schwerin announced, the corona protection measures in place before the start of the autumn holidays remain unchanged, despite the increased number of infections. Accordingly, there is still no mask requirement, corona tests are only mandatory in the event of symptoms of illness. Although regular ventilation of the classrooms is no longer mandatory, it is still recommended. School buildings were exempted from energy saving measures.
In view of the very high number of infections at the beginning of this year, the Ministry of Education and the associations and trade unions united in the Education Council agreed on a three-phase model. This should enable continuous school operations even under the conditions of the corona pandemic. Depending on the availability of the teaching staff, the school management decides after which phase lessons are given.
In phase 1, school operations will run entirely in attendance at the schools. In phase 2, face-to-face classes for grades 1 to 6 will continue. Pupils in higher classes switch between attendance and independent homeschooling on a daily or weekly basis. For graduating classes, however, regular face-to-face classes apply. In level 3, too, pupils in classes 1 to 6 should receive face-to-face lessons as far as possible. In the event of an acute shortage of staff, emergency care is also possible. Distance learning takes place from grade 7 onwards.
According to the Ministry of Education, only one of the approximately 500 schools nationwide was in the highest phase 3 and four in phase 2 before the start of the autumn break. The declared goal of politics is to avoid school closures like at the beginning of the pandemic.
