Everywhere you look, people complain, scold and protest. But despite Corona, not everything was bad in 2021. Even the rainy and cool weather had its good sides. The forests – especially in northern Bavaria – were able to recover a little. The past hot summers with their record dry periods had played a bad role for the trees, especially in Franconia and the Upper Palatinate. After all, such a forest floor loses up to six liters of water per square meter on a hot summer day, which the trees then sorely lack. In northern Bavaria, where it rains significantly less than in the south, countless pines have therefore dried up. The spruce trees were also so weakened that they fell victim to the bark beetle in rows. After all, it rained so much this year that the forests were given a breather.
How much fun nature conservation is, you could see this year in the bearded vulture females Wally and Bavaria, who were released in the Berchtesgaden National Park in June. At the beginning of the 20th century, the bearded vultures were exterminated in the Alps – among other things because the giant birds of prey were mistakenly believed that they stole small children. The scavengers are harmless and harmless. It looks spectacular when you sail through the air with a wingspan of 2.9 meters above the rocky peaks. Crowds of visitors made the pilgrimage to the national park all summer to observe the young female bearded vultures. But that’s not all. The webcam, which you could use to poke into the release niche on the Knittelhorn via the Internet, was clicked more than 600,000 times. The resettlement project will continue. Next June, young bearded vultures are to be released again on the Knittelhorn.
Farewell to the pure Cretaceous period: Bavaria’s schools experienced, as it were, a positive by-product of the corona pandemic, a surge in digitization.
(Photo: Michael Weber / imago)
The schools shaken by the Corona crisis have at least experienced a surge in digitization. 38,000 digital classrooms became 55,000, 126,000 tablets and notebooks for students became 260,000, and the number of teacher service devices rose from zero to 72,000. It was also observed that many students became more independent and that especially the strong ones Students benefited from distance learning. Education Minister Michael Piazolo (FW) never tired of emphasizing how much the psychological consequences of the school closings had been underestimated – a real insight. “Everyone noticed: School is more like math, German and English,” says Simone Fleischmann, President of the Bavarian Teachers’ Association. Last but not least, schools have become an important factor in fighting pandemics. Even if everything didn’t always work out immediately: studies show that the schools help contain the pandemic with regular tests.
In the universities, on the other hand, the switch to digital and hybrid teaching went largely smoothly. The university clinics withstood the stress in health care and research – despite Corona and a shortage of skilled workers. The expansion of childcare also continued unabated. According to the Ministry of Social Affairs, the additional places in childcare (kindergarten, crèche, after-school care center, house for children, mini-daycare) opened in 2021 mean an increase of around 26,500 places for all age groups.
The Bavarian labor market increasingly recovered from the effects of the corona pandemic in 2021 and delivered top values in a nationwide comparison. The unemployment rate in November was 2.9 percent, well below the previous year’s figure (November 2020: 3.6 percent). Bavaria currently not only has full employment, but is well ahead of Baden-Württemberg (3.4 percent) at the top nationwide and well below the national average (5.1 percent). The Bavarian training market was stable in 2021. The prospects for applicants are still excellent.
With all the suffering that the corona pandemic brings with it. The resulting low volume of traffic had a positive effect on the accident record: In 2020, 484 people were killed in traffic accidents in Bavaria. This was the lowest number of road deaths since the accident records began. The trend continued in the first half of 2021. There were 171 traffic fatalities, 47 fewer than in the same period in 2020. Thus, a low point is emerging in 2021.
Nice presents: During excavations in Nördlinger Ries, archaeologists found this ivory comb, decorated on both sides with animal scenes, in a kind of early medieval culture bag in a grave from the 6th century.
(Photo: Bavarian State Office for Monument Preservation / dpa)
For the archaeologists, the Swabian region once again turned out to be a kind of gold mine. This year, unusual grave finds from the 6th century came to light in the Nördlinger Ries. This includes an ivory comb and a bowl that was made in what was then Tunisia. Such finds are so far unique north of the Alps.
A 400 kilo find with Roman coins, weapons and pottery shards that was discovered in the Oberhausen district was also unique. The relics prove that there was Roman life in Augsburg even before the birth of Christ, making the city the oldest Roman site on Bavarian soil today.