Wiesbaden (dpa/lhe) - There are various reasons for the manageable availability of federal funding for mobile air filters at Hessian schools and daycare centers for better corona protection. As the Ministry of Education in Wiesbaden announced on Friday, 26 of the 34 eligible Hessian municipalities have been approved and paid out a total of 2.9 million euros. Of this, 1.98 million euros came from the federal government and around 990,000 euros from the state.
A ministry spokesman said there were many reasons why federal funding was only partially used. Hesse had only accessed around 13 percent of the maximum possible federal subsidy of around 14.87 million euros for the purchase of mobile air filter systems.
"Some of the municipalities have stated that they are already sufficiently supplied by the federal and state programs that have already been offered," explained the ministry spokesman. In autumn/winter 2020, Hesse launched an initial program for the purchase of air filter systems, among other things.
In many cases, the municipalities have also complained that the federal program has a restriction to poorly ventilated rooms, and there were sometimes difficulties in procuring suitable equipment, as the spokesman explained. In addition, the school authorities have in the meantime retrofitted rooms with stationary ventilation systems or made windows functional again.
