At the end of the summer holidays, of all places, the corona pandemic in Switzerland worsened noticeably. Nevertheless, the cantonal school in Frauenfeld decided to take a group photo with all of its 600 students at the start of the school year on August 16.
The procedure: In order to recreate a sun on a meadow, the classes are mixed up wildly. Teachers apparently use a megaphone to urge the young people to stand as close together as possible so that everyone is huddled together and poses for the camera. Nobody wears a mask.
“I resisted and didn’t want to take part!”
“The Covid measures were waived – and the whole thing only for a photo,” reports a pupil Blick. “Personally, I fought against the teachers on site and didn’t want to take part. As a result, the teachers reprimanded me and said that this photo was a first step back to normal. ” He was almost forced to take part.
When asked by Blick, Rector Chantal Roth emphasized that it was not a photo session in the true sense of the word, “but a start at school, a shared experience”. The picture was taken on an outdoor sports facility and had the aim of making the school community visually visible after a year and a half of strict separation.
School management considered implementation to be “responsible”
The final implementation was only decided when it was clear that cold and fresh weather conditions were prevalent. Outside of the “sun formation”, which lasted a few minutes, the people present were able to maintain minimum distances at any time. The student body was also advised of the possibility of voluntarily wearing a mask.
“I regret that the student who turned to you felt harassed. I also regret that he did not contact me directly on site, »said Rector Roth. Nevertheless, the school management assessed the procedure as “responsible” after taking into account all relevant points.
Image removed from Kanti website
In retrospect, however, those responsible no longer seem to be quite so sure. Only a short time after the picture was posted on the website of the canton school in Frauenfeld, it had already disappeared again.
“In order to avoid misunderstandings and false impressions, which can evidently arise from the pure picture, if the creation of the picture and the movement of the approaching and moving apart are not visible, we have removed the photo from the homepage,” explains Chantal Roth. A YouTube video of the campaign, however, is still online.