The doctor's offices are full. In many cases, this also involves medical certificates for school children, as reported by representatives of the panel doctors. The Ministry of Education refers to the legal situation.
Düsseldorf (dpa / lnw) - According to the Ministry of Education, sick school children in North Rhine-Westphalia usually do not need a medical certificate. In the event of illness, a written notification from the parents to the school is usually sufficient. In view of the feedback from the medical profession, the Ministry of Education asked the district governments to inform the schools again about the legal situation, a ministry spokesman said on Thursday. It was pointed out that the stressful situation of many paediatricians currently requires particularly careful examination and consideration as to whether a medical certificate should be requested in individual cases. In addition, a contribution was made in more detail in the education portal.
The North Rhine Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians had previously demanded that practices be relieved of “unnecessary certificates”. When children and teens miss classes due to illness, many schools require a medical certificate confirming the illness, she explained. "Unfortunately, these days, this is increasingly leading to practices in the already extreme stressful situation having to make additional efforts to check the requirements for a certificate and then issue it if necessary," says CEO Frank Bergmann. "However, the doctors urgently need the time for medical treatment at the moment, not for bureaucratic tasks and formally unnecessary certificates," he emphasizes.
According to the school law, schools can only ask parents for a medical certificate if there is reasonable doubt that classes are actually being missed for health reasons, the ministry spokesman said. However, there is a special regulation for final examinations and follow-up examinations: the training and examination regulations expressly provide for a certificate to be required.
"Whether reasonable doubts justify an obligation to provide a certificate is always a question of the circumstances of the individual case," he said. Indications could be, for example, an absence that is particularly frequently due to illness, an unusual duration of the illness, frequent absences from performance reviews or absences immediately before or after the start of vacations.
According to the Ministry, paragraph 43, paragraph 2 of the Schools Act states: "If a student is unable to attend school due to illness or other unforeseeable reasons, the parents must inform the school immediately and state the reason for the absence from school in writing . If there are justified doubts as to whether lessons are being missed for health reasons, the school can request a medical certificate from the parents and, in special cases, obtain an official medical report.
