Schwerin (dpa/mv) - After difficult weeks with high levels of sick leave, the Christmas holidays beginning on Thursday will give students and teachers in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania a breather. At the start of the almost two-week break, Minister of Education Simone Oldenburg (left) wished the 160,000 children and young people and 13,500 teachers in the state a peaceful and relaxing Christmas time. She added health as the most important wish.
The persistently high number of staff absences due to illness had a significant impact on school operations in December. In addition to Corona, the main reason for this was a drastic increase in the number of cases of conventional respiratory diseases. According to Oldenburg's estimate, about a third of the teachers were absent on average.
The ministry reacted to this shortly before the holidays and expanded the three-phase model developed for the Corona crisis. According to this, depending on the availability of the teachers, schools can also go into distance or alternating lessons from grade seven and organize emergency care for younger students. This regulation also applies to the start of school after the public holidays on January 3rd, said the minister.
