Status: 07/14/2021 5:40 p.m.
In order to make the schools fit for the new school year, the federal government wants to support not only fixed, but also mobile air filters – with 200 million euros. But is that enough to keep the classroom teaching going?
From Anne Baier,
ARD capital studio
You want to make the lessons as safe as possible, said Federal Minister of Economics Peter Altmaier (CDU) in Berlin when he appeared in front of the press after the cabinet meeting. “It is important to us that face-to-face teaching is possible even if the number of infections may rise,” said the minister. From Altmaier’s point of view, it is essential to prevent a new lockdown in the corona crisis.
That is why the federal government now wants to spend 200 million euros on mobile air filters. So far, only the installation of fixed systems has been funded. Institutions have been able to apply for funds since June – a maximum of 500,000 euros and only if no money has already come from other agencies. The current program is a supplement to the existing funding program and, according to Altmaier, should be implemented as quickly and unbureaucratically as possible. But which devices will then be used still has to be checked by the Federal Environment Agency and the Association of German Engineers.
How effective are mobile air filters?
The mobile air filters look like small refrigerators and should primarily be installed in classrooms that cannot be ventilated well: Rooms that have no windows or tilt windows and where the air exchange is very poor.
Researchers at the University of Stuttgart have measured in ten schools in different classrooms how these mobile air filters affect the aerosol content of the air. The result: the devices are very effective, but they are also noisy and they cause drafts. The scientists also found that the devices do not dissipate moisture or carbon dioxide. That could be problematic, especially in winter. Your conclusion: Mobile air filters can primarily be a supplement and in no way replace ventilation.
Also on the part of the SPD it is said that mobile air filters cannot be an all-purpose means. Federal Family Minister Christine Lambrecht (SPD) emphasized: “It takes a mix of various precautions and precautionary measures in everyday school and day-care life.”
Criticism from GEW and teachers’ association
“Too late and too little” is the criticism of the German teachers’ association. The chairman, Heinz-Peter Meidinger, welcomed the promotion of air filters in principle, but “in view of the total investment volume of around 1.5 billion euros required to equip over 650,000 classrooms with mobile room air filter systems, the total volume is probably not sufficient”. In addition, the funding is a bit late, because in some federal states school will start again in three weeks.
Federal Education Minister Anja Karliczek (CDU) therefore assumes that the students in Germany will still have to be tested regularly for the corona virus in a few months’ time. “So that children and young people can safely return to their normal school life,” said the Minister of Education.