"We want to combine more safety with more normality."

On Tuesday it emerged that there would be no general mask mandate in schools. According to RTL info, the Minister of Education had shared this in meetings with teachers unions. Nor would there be mandatory testing, as is the case in the Saarland, as this would disadvantage underprivileged families. Ventilation devices are not planned, either. Opening windows should suffice.

For Raoul Scholtes, president of the CGFP's teachers union, lifting the mask mandate is far from ideal. He also criticises the vague and provisional character of the recent plans, for instance regarding testing. Tests should be done weekly in general, with more frequent testing if the virus has been detected in a class. But none of this is mandated. For Raoul Scholtes, this is a risky bet. A country with compulsory education has an obligation to offer safe education, he says.

This is why some German states have introduced mandatory tests. "We wanted to bring together more normality and more safety, but apparently the Ministry wanted mostly normality." They would have to live with that, says Scholtes, but it was worrying. "This only works as long as the numbers remain low." Once they start increasing, the reaction must be swift and not delayed until close to system collapse.

Regarding Claude Meisch's statement that mandatory tests would disadvantage underprivileged families, Raoul Scholtes says this would assume that everyone who has not been tested so far is from socially deprived backgrounds. But this is questionable, according to him. There are people who refuse to get tested also have the option of homeschooling. This had worked well with quarantined students so far.

Both the teachers' and the educators' unions had requested ventilation devices. This was denied with the same arguments as last year: CO2 meters and open windows would suffice. "This will delight everyone who had to suffer through last winter in cold classrooms," says Scholtes. Additional filters would give a false sense of safety, argues the Ministry. For teachers, this sounds "like refusing a seat belt for fear of driving too fast."