Please to avoid attendance at Jena's schools

Yesterday, Eberhard Hertzsch, head of the department for social affairs, family and education, in coordination with the East Thuringia State School Board, sent a request to the school directors of the Jena schools. The schools are asked to check whether a change to digital lessons in home schooling can take place at short notice. By keeping pupils at home before the Christmas holidays, the teachers would be relieved and the risk of infection would be reduced.

"For weeks now, our public health department has been pointing out that schools and children's institutions, contrary to the political opinion expressed in the summer, make a significant contribution to the incidence of infection," writes Eberhard Hertzsch in his letter to the school administrators.

He also refers to restrictions on the responsibility for schools and day-care facilities: "We as a city cannot order the closure of facilities. Only the state of Thuringia can do that. But in level yellow, the institutions can take further measures on site against the background of the occurrence of infection. With our request to the schools, we wanted to point out that the schools are doing so - because the current infection situation in Jena, especially in the schools, is more than tense. I would like to thank all schools that, together with parents, are now looking for pragmatic solutions to reduce the risk of infection.

The first schools have already passed on the information to the parents yesterday evening and want to comply with the request. If it is possible for parents, parents should work from home and can thus look after their children in home schooling. The organisation of emergency care - especially in primary schools - is the responsibility of the schools.

In the case of unclear cases of infection at institutions, a ban on entering the premises is also issued by the health department, far from the voluntary homeschooling regulations.