D a the Justice Minister of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania takes her child out of school one day before the start of the holidays to fly on vacation. Is she allowed to do that?
And.
The German school law is very – well, German: take the child out of school on the last day of school before the holidays? Only with hardship application! Did grandma die? No? Then sorry, attendance is compulsory. Even if on the last days of school it often only consists of – be careful, non-representative survey based on personal concerns – filling one to three class hours with films or games. Which the child, who shows up at home well before lunch, doesn’t remember when asked.
Now Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania’s Justice Minister Jacqueline Bernhardt (Left) has apparently drawn conclusions from this fact: She asked for her son to be excused from school for the last day before the winter holidays so as not to endanger his departure on his family vacation. The school granted her this. Of course this is now blowing up in the minister’s face, because exactly: a package holiday is not a hardship case. And did a minister perhaps receive preferential treatment? Politically, it all looks clumsy to say the least.
But instead of dwelling on moral debates: finally give the last day of school free for normal vacation requests (which the school can still reject). Apart from that: family vacation is not a hardship? Yes, of course it is. We are currently hearing from the conservative side that we should work more and more, everyone, especially women, are out of part-time work! If you have to constantly exert yourself, you will need a package holiday at some point. If Vfull-time part-time working families (Job, children, household) which is made more difficult by inflexible holiday regulations, this is unlikely to improve work morale either.
Anna Klöpper
No.
It may sound bourgeois to strictly insist on compulsory school attendance on the last day of school before the holidays. Of course, no school child will fail later in life if they miss a few hours of lessons. But it doesn’t really matter. It’s about the principle and a political example. Anyone who complains about the global decline of the rule-based order must not remain silent about the early school release for the son of the Justice Minister of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.
Precisely because everyone wants longer vacations and would like to jet off earlier than allowed, it is no trivial matter if a member of the government allows extra sausages, which are denied to the electorate. Fortunately, the responsible education minister also recognized this and criticized the process, even though she is in the same left-wing party as her cabinet colleague. The fact that right-wingers are now exaggerating the faux pas of the left-wing early vacationer into a state crisis in order to make political capital out of it in the election campaign cannot be a reason to dismiss the case as a trivial matter. Leftists in particular must not give the impression that high-ranking politicians are taking more than is stated in the rules if they want to remain credible.
The widespread attitude that it doesn’t matter whether you go to school on the last day before the holidays is also a sign of a lack of respect. Because teachers have to come too, although they would probably prefer to leave earlier and use cheaper flights. So it would be unfair to give the last day of school off. And a strange signal. What should children learn from this? That it doesn’t matter whether you goes on vacation a day earlier or later? My boss at tazeins probably wouldn’t like that either. Or?
Luke Wallraff
Editor’s note: In an earlier version of the text, the subheading accidentally said that it was about the Minister of Education. In fact, the debate – as correctly mentioned in the text – revolves around the Minister of Justice. We learn: not everything that happens in schools has to do with education.