200 million euros available - but schools can't use them

Since summer 2021, the old German government has made 200 million euros available for the purchase of mobile air purification systems in schools and daycare centers.

But apparently this offer is not attractive enough to convince school authorities and daycare center managers. Yet the money would be well spent - especially since, during the cold season, regular window ventilation not only interferes with lessons and endangers the health of children and young people, but also incurs large energy costs and places an enormous burden on the environment.

In response to a question from Amira Mohamed Ali, head of the parliamentary group of the Left Party, to the federal government on October 21, 2021, as to whether and, if so, how much money from the funding pot for the acquisition had already flowed to the schools, it was confirmed that NRW had already "committed funds" but that otherwise no disbursements had yet been made.

Even the funds provided by the federal states of Hamburg and Bavaria remain untouched in the coffers of their state governments. Because, it seems, the own funds to be spent are too high for the principals and kindergarten directors. They simply cannot raise them. So far, only a small proportion of the planned 21,000 air purifiers have been purchased in Hamburg. And of the 190 million generously provided by the Free State of Bavaria for the procurement of mobile air purifiers, only a small amount has been called up.

But it is high time that action is finally taken. That is why Heinz-Peter Meidinger, President of the German Teachers' Association, complains in the "Welt am Sonntag" (14.11.2021; p.5): "If there are air filters and sufficient ventilation possibilities in a class, the risk of infection by aerosols is low. But to send the children home without air filters, without minimum distance regulation and without masks is negligent"!

https://www.news4teachers.de/2021/11/neue-runde-im-luftfilter-skandal-das-bundesprogramm-fuer-kitas-und-schulen-floppt-laender-rufen-die-mittel-nicht-ab/ from News4Teachers November 11, 2021