Christmas holidays extended? Scholz Minister calls for ambitious action

At the Corona summit on November 30, possible school closings in the fourth wave are left out – for now. The FDP makes an ambitious proposal. The news ticker on schools in the pandemic.

• Corona rules in schools: Will the educational institutions remain open despite the fourth wave?
• An FDP minister calls for an ambitious vaccination campaign in schools (see update from November 30th, 6:25 p.m.).
• This News ticker on possible school closings in the pandemic is updated regularly.

Update from November 30th, 6:25 p.m .: The future Federal Minister of Justice Marco Buschmann (FDP) has described school closings as “the last resort”, despite the high number of infections in the fourth wave of the corona pandemic.

In a liberal press round, the 44-year-old vehemently advocated compulsory masking in schools “before sending the children home and thus increasing the learning gap,” said Buschmann in front of the capital’s press. He would rather “work with masks before closing schools”. Buschmann is said to belong to the cabinet of soon-to-be Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) in the Ampel coalition. With a view to schools and children, he brought an ambitious scenario into play this Tuesday.

“There should be a mobile vaccination bus in front of every school,” said the FDP politician, who advocated the decision to extend the vaccination campaign to school children and young people.

Update from November 30th, 5:15 p.m .: In the discussion about measures against the fourth corona wave, Green boss Robert Habeck also spoke out in favor of extended Christmas holidays. Brandenburg and Saxony Anhalt were the first federal states to decide to start their holidays a few days earlier. Habeck said on Tuesday in the ZDF “Morgenmagazin”: “I think it is right if the Christmas holidays are brought forward in countries where the incidence is very high.”

Education unions and associations reject such a step. This would be nothing more than a school closure, it was said on Tuesday. Habeck had confirmed his demand in the morning on the ARD (see first report below).

Schools / children in the corona pandemic: Teachers’ association welcomes legality of school closings

Update from November 30th, 4.15 p.m .: The German Teachers Association has welcomed the ruling of the Federal Constitutional Court on the legality of school closings during the period of application of the so-called federal emergency brake. The judgment creates the necessary legal clarity, said association president Heinz-Peter Meidinger of German Press Agency (dpa).

“School closings are therefore constitutional as an” ultima ratio “if they serve the higher-ranking protection mandate of the state for life and health and there are no milder measures with the same effect,” said Meidinger. In this context, he described it as a “serious political mistake” that the traffic light parties had ruled out general school closings with the amendment to the Infection Protection Act.

Nobody, not even the teachers’ association, wants a new, long phase of distance teaching. “But to leave schools completely outside of a possibly necessary renewed temporary lockdown, even though we have the highest incidences in this age group and schools are hubs of pandemic events, would be just as wrong,” said Meidinger.

Will the schools be closed again because of Corona? Court: Federal emergency brake according to the constitution

Update from November 30th, 2:21 p.m .: After the Federal Constitutional Court declared the federal emergency brake to be constitutional, stricter rules for schools and daycare centers will also be decided at the Corona summit in Berlin. In particular, the Union-led federal states should push for tightening.

Together with Baden-Württemberg they have agreed on a five-point catalog of requirements with protective measures. According to the draft resolution, contact restrictions should apply in future to unvaccinated people, and clubs and discos should close across Germany. The compulsory vaccination was also an issue in the draft decision, and it should be accelerated, especially for medical staff. The prime ministers of the federal states and the federal government are currently meeting at the Corona summit in Berlin.

School closings again due to Corona? Bund-Länder summit consults

First report from November 30th: Karlsruhe / Berlin – The verdict was eagerly awaited: the school closings ordered in the spring of this year in the fight against the corona virus were, in the opinion of the Federal Constitutional Court, permissible in view of the situation at the time. The Karlsruhe judges rejected several constitutional complaints against the school closings in a decision published on Tuesday. At the same time, however, the judges recognized for the first time that children and young people had a right to school education vis-à-vis the state. The school closings had seriously interfered with this right.

When deciding that the school closings were still legal, the Federal Constitutional Court took into account a number of specific political framework conditions. For example, the right to school was confronted with “overriding public interest” in the form of defense against dangers to life and health. The vaccination campaign only started in April of this year. In addition, school closings were only permitted from a seven-day incidence of 165. In addition, the federal states were constitutionally obliged to replace the absence of face-to-face teaching with distance teaching, even while the federal emergency brake was in force.

Schools and daycare centers before Corona summit: Federal Constitutional Court approves Corona emergency brake

As the Federal Constitutional Court also decided, the fact that the school closings were limited to a good two months also spoke in favor of their admissibility. This ensured that the protection of life and health would not become less urgent due to vaccination progress. In addition, the federal government had already taken precautions before the federal emergency brake was passed so as not to burden schoolchildren as much in the future as possible.

Politicians, including Robert Habeck, Vice-Chancellor-designate and Minister of Economic Affairs, had repeatedly brought up school closings in recent days, but announced that they would wait for the judgment of the Federal Constitutional Court. Habeck said on Tuesday im ARD-Morning magazine, he also thinks it is right that the Christmas holidays would be brought forward in those states and regions with a high incidence. The example of Baden-Württemberg – here children should be supported by schools with a vaccination – is conceivable across the board.

Video: Constitutional Court approves third wave school closings

Bavaria’s Prime Minister Markus Söder made it clear that he too was open to talks about school closings in his state. At the moment, however, he does not see any reason for this, so Söder on the radio station Bavaria 2. The state of Bavaria is one of the most severely affected by the fourth wave in Germany; the incidence is currently 618.2, according to the Robert Koch Institute. (AFP / fmü)