Thursday, December 23, 2021
Improve digital equipment
Stark-Watzinger: Prepare for school closings
School closings are considered to be almost impossible based on past experience; they should only be considered as a last resort. However, in view of the Corona variant Omikron, Federal Education Minister Stark-Watzinger warns that they are more likely, if not everywhere.
Education Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger has called for protection against the Omikron variant of the corona virus for new school closings. “We have to prepare ourselves for the design of alternating lessons when it becomes necessary again,” she told the newspapers of the Funke media group. The digital equipment in schools must be improved quickly and it must be ensured that the funds from the digital pact flow out more quickly. “And we also have to prepare for the fact that school closings could be necessary – not nationwide, but regionally,” she said.
The FDP politician emphasized that the first priority was to keep the schools open. That is why the federal government has just extended the air filter program, for example. As further corona protective measures, Stark-Watzinger named wearing masks in class, testing, vaccinating students quickly and boosting teachers.
The minister praised the willingness to vaccinate in schools. Of the 12 to 17-year-olds, 61 percent were vaccinated at least once and 51 percent completely against the corona virus, she told the Funke newspapers. Low-threshold vaccination offers are important. In consultation with schools and parents, more mobile vaccination teams should be used in schools. The teachers set a good example, said Stark-Watzinger. Studies showed that more than 90 percent of them were vaccinated against Corona.