Thousands of parents are dropping their children out of school because of possible compulsory vaccinations
Instead of going to school, thousands of children are expected to be homeschooled from autumn onwards (Image: APA / HANS PUNZ)
School principals raised the alarm in relation to the “Krone” at the beginning of July, and now the problem is becoming more and more obvious: Thousands of parents across Austria are signing-out their children from school. Resistance to the corona measures is assumed to be the reason. Those responsible speak of "Corona deniers" who prefer to teach their children at home. It is feared that the children will lack social contacts. There is no legal handle: Because in this country there is no compulsory education, there is only an obligation to attend classes.
Nationwide there are already 3600 cancellations for the coming school year. It is estimated that this number could rise to 6000 by the time school starts, reported the "ZiB 1" on Tuesday, citing the education directorates. For comparison: In the 2019/2020 school year there were around 2,000 children who were canceled from school.
There are a particularly high number of cancellations in Lower Austria: Currently there are around 1150, before the pandemic it was an average of 700 to 800. Now, due to the lack of pupils, there is even a risk of merging classes. In the market town of Hofstetten-Grünau in the St. Pölten Land district, there will probably only be 23 children instead of 26 in the autumn of elementary school.
Mayor: "A madness"
“So we cannot divide the class,” said Mayor Arthur Rasch in the Ö1 “Morgenjournal”. “Now we have a large class and one less teacher,” he complains. If there are further measures in the autumn - for example that twelve-year-olds are vaccinated - possibly even more students will be deregistered, the mayor fears: "For us as school maintainer this is madness."
Education director wants psychological talk for parents
Although the cancellations are basically "individual cases", the numbers are worrying, said Lower Austrian Education Director Johann Heuras (ÖVP) in an Ö1 interview. He emphasizes that school is more than imparting knowledge - in homeschooling children would lack social contact. Legally, however, you have no control, according to Heuras. He would like the parents to have a compulsory psychological interview in order to find out the reason for their decision.
Parents can only deregister their children before school starts. Education director Heuras assumes that some have only done so for the time being, for example because they fear compulsory vaccination. However, the children could return to school at any time. This is an organizational question that can be solved, according to Heuras.
www.abc.net.au
