In the next few days it could be difficult to send children to daycare or primary school. Experts fear that many facilities will have to close briefly due to the nationwide wave of illness.
The primary school association has warned against local school closures in view of the nationwide wave of illnesses in Germany. “The staffing situation in many primary schools in the country is on edge and is sometimes below the calculated personnel budget,” said association chairman Edgar Bohn to the Germany editorial network.
“I cannot and do not want to imagine complete school closures, but this could certainly be the result in small units.” Restrictions in the form of cuts in the timetable definitely cannot be ruled out.
In any case, a “precarious situation” in the daycare centers
The current wave of illness is also having a noticeable impact on operations in daycare centers, as industry associations report. “Many daycare centers nationwide are currently struggling with a high number of staff absences,” said the chairwoman of the German Daycare Association, Waltraud Weegmann, to the RND.
The spokeswoman for Workers’ Welfare, Jennifer Rotter, spoke of a “precarious situation” in the daycare centers, which is being made even worse by the current wave of illnesses. “Reduced opening times and even short-term closures due to a lack of staff are currently almost the rule rather than the exception,” she said in response to an RND request.
Daycare association chairwoman Weegmann explained that the problem of skilled workers must be addressed quickly. “We need to hurry. Otherwise we will no longer have a daycare crisis, but rather a complete daycare collapse.”