Copernicus School in Freigericht
Because of a disgusting TikTok trend, a school in Hesse is rationing toilet paper
In the Copernicus School in Freigericht, the students should now bring their own toilet paper
© gmcoop / Getty Images
Wet toilet paper on the walls, clogged toilets: The Copernicus School in Freigericht, Hesse, is suffering from a TikTok trend. The school management is therefore taking drastic measures.
Another questionable trend is making the rounds on TikTok: This time it’s about messing around with toilet paper. Students in particular post videos on the social media platform in which they “decorate” their schools with toilet paper instead of using it for its intended purpose. The problem has been known in the USA for a long time, and now German educational institutions are also coming more and more frequently to posts with hashtags such as #toilet paper or #toilet paper roll.
The Kopernikus School in the Hessian Freigericht is apparently particularly badly affected. Wet toilet paper is stuck to the walls there, students used it to clog the toilets. Recently, a student even wanted to light a toilet paper roll. Although unsuccessful, for Rector Ulrich Mayer it was the signal that “something has to happen now”, as he told the “Hessenschau”. The comprehensive school drew consequences: in future there will only be individual rolls of toilet paper, and children and young people will have to bring their own equipment from home to use the toilet.
TikTok trend makes school toilets dirty
In addition, the school management is planning further measures, as reported by the “Offenbach-Post”: A supervisor is to be assigned specifically for the toilets, information about the perpetrators is requested. There is also talk of the students paying in a “toilet euro” out of their own pocket every month.
The fact that the school no longer wants to provide toilet paper or only very little has caused a stir. Rector Mayer cannot understand this: “Parents and the media don’t look at the cause and the dangers when someone makes the school toilet unusable and tries to set toilet paper on fire, but at the fact that we take away the toilet paper.”
Kopernikusschule is the largest general education school in Germany
Around 2,500 students attend the comprehensive school in Freigericht, making the Kopernikusschule Germany’s largest general school. The vandalism in the toilets is caused by a few students, emphasizes Mayer. However, everyone who attends the school now has to suffer as a result.
The school management clearly sees the reason for the problem in the spreading TikTok videos. Rector Mayer has therefore asked parents to talk to their children about how to deal with social media trends. These are sometimes “not only disgusting, but also dangerous”.
Sources: “Offenbach Post” / “Hesse Show” / RTL