It is eagerly awaited which course the state government will set for corona protection measures at daycare centers and schools. The SPD opposition has already submitted and written down homework for the new Ministers for Schools and for Family shortly before the end of the holidays.
Düsseldorf (dpa / lnw) – The SPD opposition in North Rhine-Westphalia is calling for all daycare and school children to be tested for the corona virus in the first two weeks after the summer holidays. The precautionary measure is necessary in order not to risk mass infections, said the vice-chairman of the SPD state parliamentary group Jochen Ott on Wednesday in Düsseldorf. Some daycare centers have already had to close due to high infection rates among the educators.
The schools also need clear step-by-step plans as to when they can take which corona protection measures on their own responsibility, Ott demanded. “This must not be vague.” If every fourth teacher or more were to be absent from a school, it would be “hardly possible to compensate”. Then emergency plans would have to be in place in order to be able to react, for example, with shortened lessons or digital lessons, suggested the qualified teacher.
In addition, the federal government should create the legal basis to be able to react again in such cases with a mask requirement, demanded Ott. A threshold should also be defined for this measure. From his point of view, the framework should be geared primarily to the questions: “Is there enough staff to keep the lessons going? And how many children are affected by infections?” In view of the many critical expert opinions, he currently does not consider large investments in air filters by municipal school authorities to be realistic.
This Thursday, the new North Rhine-Westphalian school minister, Dorothee Feller (CDU), will provide information about the general conditions for the coming school year. After six and a half weeks of summer vacation, classes will start again on August 10th for most of the approximately 2.5 million schoolchildren in NRW. NRW was the first federal state to start the summer holidays at the end of June.
The SPD also called for fundamental educational reforms for both day-care centers and schools. To this end, he wrote down “homework” for the two new ministers, said Ott.
Especially after the pandemic years, a frightening lack of performance was revealed in several learning tests in NRW, coupled with a lack of justice and a lack of specialists in the education system, he criticized. If politicians do not react to this, the result will be an educational catastrophe with many children who do not meet the requirements and qualifications.
From the SPD’s point of view, there should no longer be “abschulung”, especially at high schools, against the will of the parents. Instead, Ott demanded that concepts be developed as to how all children could be qualified through appropriate support at their schools – even at different levels. “You can’t just say: We are no longer responsible. Goodbye.”
Many children who were “handed down” after a false start at high school would not find a place at the completely overcrowded comprehensive schools and often ended up directly at a lower secondary school. Ott warned that this was very bad for those affected.
There is also a great need for reform in the day-care centers. The SPD is calling for parental contributions to be abolished, but at least for the cancellation of day-care center fees promised in the black-green coalition agreement to be implemented immediately in the third year before school starts.
In addition, the day-care centers needed fixed base financing instead of incalculable per capita payments. In addition, the so-called everyday helper program, which supports the educators in many infection protection measures, should not just be extended until the end of the year, but made permanent.
On Friday, the new family minister Josefine Paul (Greens) will provide information about the current situation in child day care in North Rhine-Westphalia.
