Sunday March 21, 2021
"On the back of our children"
Children's charity sharply criticizes corona policy
The Vice-President of the German Children's Fund, Lütkes, speaks of a "jurisdictional and organizational chaos". She goes tough with the Corona strategy, for example in education and vaccination. Meanwhile, it is unclear whether the schools can remain open in the third wave – the SPD is demanding this.
The Vice President of the German Children's Fund, Anne Lütkes, took the German Corona strategy into court and warned of a "shipwreck" of the education system. "Within a very short time, daycare centers and schools will have to close completely again because in too many places emphasis is placed on adhering to responsibilities, administrative processes and bureaucracy requirements instead of solving the immense challenges of the corona pandemic pragmatically," Lütkes told the Funke- Newspapers.
Lütkes complained about a "chaos of responsibility and organization" in many places and a lack of sustainable strategies, for example in education and vaccination. Likewise, there is no "sustainable concept of how the ever-widening educational gap can be closed". "Parliamentary and executive incompetence" will be "carried out on the backs of our children and young people".
Lütkes criticized the federal and state governments ", contrary to their promises, failed to create the necessary conditions to ensure safe operation in schools and daycare centers." "All in all, we must therefore state that from a children's rights perspective, dealing with the corona pandemic is a single disaster due to multiple incorrect priorities." Lütkes referred to "in many places dramatic reports from children's and adolescent medical practices, from child and adolescent psychiatry or hospitals", which showed that fears, loneliness, insecurities and depression among children and adolescents as well as intra-family conflicts had increased significantly in the pandemic.
Walter-Borjans wants to keep schools open
SPD boss Norbert Walter-Borjans meanwhile spoke out in favor of keeping schools open, at least for alternate classes, despite the increasing number of corona infections. "It was difficult for everyone involved to accept the alternating lessons. It is the right decision," he told the newspapers of the editorial network in Germany. There are too many children who cannot adequately participate in digital lessons at home and who have little support. "We need a pragmatic approach, including special help for children who are increasingly falling behind due to the failure of lessons at school," demanded Walter-Borjans.
The President of the German Teachers' Association, Heinz-Peter Meidinger, on the other hand, expects a return to distance teaching soon. "There is only one way to make the schools a reasonably safe place in a third wave: by vaccinating the teachers and at the same time doing a quick test for all teachers and students at least twice a week," he told the "Bild am Sunday". However, there are massive problems with both. "So I don't think we can leave the schools open in the third wave."
Meidinger gave the rapid tests in schools a particularly bad grade. "Not a single state has enough rapid tests to test all students and teachers at least twice a week, or better still every school day," he said. Meidinger also warned of a large deficit among the children. "All students have built up gaps. At 20 percent they are so large that they can no longer be caught up," said the association president.
Chancellor Angela Merkel and the prime ministers want to decide in a video conference on Monday on how to proceed with the corona requirements. Slight relaxations only came into effect two weeks ago. In view of the renewed increase in the number of infections, there are now increasing demands to reverse the relaxation.
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