Wiesbaden (dpa/lhe) - Six weeks of summer vacation are over: the new school year starts on Monday in Hesse. Due in part to the immigration of war refugees from Ukraine, the total number of schoolchildren is increasing significantly. In the future, around 787,000 children and young people will attend the schools, around 25,500 more than in the previous school year. According to the Ministry of Education, the number of first-graders in Hesse will increase by 1,700 to 59,000.
Minister Alexander Lorz (CDU) had named the expansion of all-day offers, the promotion of German and the integration of foreign students as priorities in the coming school year. He was confident that after the restrictions imposed by the corona pandemic, the schools could now turn more to their core concerns.
All students were offered five corona self-tests before the start of the summer holidays in order to be able to test themselves before the first day of school. In addition, like the school staff, they receive three self-tests per week for voluntary testing at home during the first two weeks of school. Masks are not compulsory in schools.
