COVID: Schools are in lockdown and e-learning is a wrestle

Like all German college students, Eric Grabowski can’t return to high school after the Christmas break. With a country-wide lockdown simply having been prolonged due to continued excessive charges of coronavirus infections, the tenth-grader will possible have to remain residence till the top of January.
Right now, Eric must be having a French class on-line, the 15-year-old tells DW on the telephone. “I’m sitting in front of my laptop, trying to access my school’s learning platform. But again, nothing works at all.”
Eric’s complete faculty close to Kaiserslautern in southwestern Germany isn’t the one one fighting the transition to distant studying. In many elements of the nation, pupils and academics report comparable difficulties.
“These server problems simply have to be solved,” Eric says. The tenth-grader is an energetic member of the scholar council in his residence state of Rhineland-Palatinate. He helps faculty closures whereas an infection charges stay excessive. “But we don’t even know if we’ll be able to go back to school in February. I don’t even know if I’ll be able to take my final exam this year. The digital lessons simply have to work. It can’t go on like this,” he complains.
‘Incredibly bureaucratic’
Germany nonetheless appears to be lagging behind in distant studying — virtually one yr after the primary coronavirus case within the nation and greater than 9 months after the primary faculty closures in March 2020.
German colleges have lengthy been fighting digitalization, says Nina Brandau from German IT and telecommunications trade group Bitkom. An present faculty digitalization plan was ramped up within the wake of the coronavirus pandemic in July 2020, bringing the joint state and federal efforts to about 7 billion euros ($8.6 billion.)
“But it takes time for this financial aid to trickle down to the schools,” Brandau tells DW. “The application process is incredibly bureaucratic.” A myriad of federal, state, and native authorities are concerned within the process in Germany. “Other countries are doing much better,” says Brandau.
Laptops usually are not sufficient
Before the pandemic, there have been solely six computer systems for each 10 pupils obtainable at German colleges. 2018 figures from the OECD present that in different industrialized international locations the quantity was a lot greater with as much as 9 computer systems for 10 pupils.
Lately, many German colleges have targeted on shopping for laptops. Eric Grabowski says his faculty lastly bought 120 laptops final autumn that have been handed out to these with out their very own gadgets at residence.
“But it doesn’t stop with buying laptops,” says Brandau. “We need teachers to be able to use digital tools and create meaningful education programs with them. For this, we need more training. And that is lacking.”
Another drawback is the dearth of quick and dependable Internet connections. “If you live in certain areas of Germany, your four kids just aren’t able to simultaneously attend hybrid classroom settings. Moreover, many schools also still lack high-performing internet connections,” Brandau says.
Nothing rotten in Denmark?
When requested for European international locations which can be faring higher, Brandau names Denmark and Estonia. “They have used digital media in education for quite some time, with Wi-Fi available in all schools. Teachers and pupils were ready to use these tools.” Countries akin to Finland or the Netherlands are additionally commonly cited as position fashions in Europe.
Yet, the coronavirus pandemic has come as a shock even for international locations lengthy thought of frontrunners in Europe in terms of faculty digitalization. Danish media researcher Jesper Taekke from Aarhus University says the pandemic had revealed that academics within the nation nonetheless didn’t have the IT expertise wanted for good digital training.
“They have a tough time adapting to the digital media environment. There is a lot of angst,” Taekke tells DW. “The government has invested huge amounts of money in hardware. Teachers have digital blackboards, networks, computers, and all that. But they have very little time to actually prepare lessons and come up with ideas for digital education.”
Taekke says his analysis reveals that 8 in 10 main faculty pupils within the nation didn’t have entry to actual digital classes through the pandemic however have been simply despatched homework that they needed to do on their very own.
Computer shortages from north to south
Problems in different European international locations are extra extreme. Reports about crashed servers and a scarcity of {hardware} have come out of many international locations, together with Italy and Greece. And within the United Kingdom, a research by charity Teach First prompt that nearly three in 4 head academics say their pupils shouldn’t have enough entry to digital gadgets and the web.
The Department for Education within the UK says English colleges are “well-prepared to deliver remote education”, with 560,000 laptops and tablets given to varsities final yr, and an additional 100,000 this week.
However, within the UK and lots of different European international locations, concern stays that kids are being pressured to begin the varsity time period with out entry to those gadgets or any correct technique for them to interact with on-line studying.
Young college students need assistance
Digital studying, it appears, stays a problem for college students and academics alike, even in Europe’s richest international locations. But it’s particularly troublesome for youthful college students.
Oliver Best, an IT distribution skilled, says his 4 sons are fortunate as a result of they’ve good gear and he will help at any time when there’s a drawback. His 8-year-old son is in second grade and had his first-ever video education session this week, after his faculty in Ludwigshafen in Germany’s southwestern state of Rhineland-Palatinate didn’t reopen after the Christmas break.
But many of the kids struggled says Best. “This morning, my 8-year old was the only one in his group who succeeded in getting the video conference up and running,” he tells DW through phone. “Some of his peers couldn’t log in, some repeatedly lost their connection, and some could only hear the audio.”
Oliver Best is glad his son loved his first distance-learning session. But, like so many different dad and mom, he hopes that there will probably be a return to regular faculty life this yr.
Politicians from all main German events have repeatedly stated that babies must be the primary to return to high school when an infection numbers begin happening.