Students in Germany went back to class to take their final exams on Monday as schools that had been shut last month to stem the spread of the coronavirus epidemic began to reopen.
BERLIN – Students in Germany went back
to class to take their final exams on Monday as schools that had
been shut last month to stem the spread of the coronavirus
epidemic began to reopen.
The partial re-opening, agreed last week by Chancellor
Angela Merkel and regional premiers, started with the oldest
students, who will observe strict social distancing as they
write their papers.
“I believe the students are ready for their final exams
now,” said Antje Luekemann, headteacher of Berlin’s Steglitz
High School, where students arrived wearing face masks and
disinfecting their hands with sanitiser before sitting down at
widely spaced school desks.
“The longer the uncertainty lasts, the more difficult it
will be to keep them motivated and that’s why I believe it’s
very important that we received the go-ahead for these exams,”
Luekemann added.
Pupils across the world have been taking their classes over
the internet since governments ordered that schools be closed in
order to slow the transmission of the new-style coronavirus that
has so far killed over 100,000 people around the world.
German authorities last week concluded that social
distancing measures, including shop closures, limits on public
gatherings and widespread home working had succeeded in slowing
the disease’s spread sufficiently to allow limited reopening.
The details of how schools will reopen are up to Germany’s
16 states to decide. In Berlin, 16-year-olds will follow the
19-year-olds back to class a week later, with other age-groups
following in stages over coming months.
Smaller shops also reopened across much of Germany on
Monday, though restaurants, cinemas and large stores will remain
closed.
Germany has the fifth highest Covid-19 caseload behind the
United States, Spain, Italy and France at nearly 142,000 but has
kept fatalities down to a relatively low 4,404 thanks to early
and extensive testing.
“Of course I’m somewhat worried,” Luekemann said. “The more
students there are in the building, the more complicated it gets
to stick to the framework conditions. Ultimately we are talking
about youths here, who might not always be in a position to
evaluate dangers 100%,” she added.
