School in Corona mode-insights into the emotional worlds of young people during an extreme situation

"School in Corona mode-impressions and experiences of students"

"I am slowly progressing in the tasks, that stresses me out," writes Tyler. Alya is very afraid that "my aunt, who has cancer, gets and dies Corona virus."

And Lisa becomes poetic: "School in times of Corona is like a slaughterhouse, only that dreams are slaughtered instead of animals."

The concern for yourself, the concern for others: The book "School in Corona mode" gathers more than 400 texts and pictures from 44 Hessian schools , in which boys and girls have put their impressions and experiences on paper in corona pandemic.

The joy of additional school -free days in the Lockdown lasted only briefly. The humor with which the students still commented on the hamster purchases of pasta or toilet paper commented quickly is quickly gone. With every day of the exceptional situation, they miss the structure that school and lessons give their lives.

Above all, they lack the personal exchange with their classmates on site. You are painful that online communication cannot replace it. Boredom arises, then uncertainty, fears before being alone, before loneliness, before an uncertain future. And anger: anger on the Corona virus, this invisible enemy.

In their diversity - the contributions come from all age groups and school types - the work depicts a wide cross -section of the Hessian school landscape. In order to give an "unadorned mood" , the "Aktion Hessen helps" as a publisher did without an editorial revision.

"School in Corona mode" opens up an authentic insight into the emotional worlds of young people in an extreme situation that has now been more than a year. It is also a documentation of creativity that develop children and adolescents to express their concerns and needs: be it with a comic, in a diary, a film script, a poem or prayer.

"School in Corona mode-impressions and experiences of pupils", edited by the Hessen campaign, EV/Tobias Greilich helps 464 pages.

The book with a greeting by the Hessian Minister of Culture Professor Dr. R. Alexander Lorz is available in bookstores at a price of 14.80 euros.

ISBN: 978-3-942347-34-1 . For the printing of another book, the non-profit association asks for donations to the account DE81 5185 0079 0121 0076 65. The association is available at contact@ahh-mail.de .

Selected student contributions ( book extracts )

Quotes and photos of the students involved

Quotes and photos of supervising teachers

Interview with editor Tobias Greilich

Deep insights into the concerns of students in pandemic

Editor Tobias Greilich on the publication "School in Corona mode" of the "Aktion Hessen helps"

Since 1995, the "Aktion Hessen helps" has been providing humanitarian aid for people in need worldwide. Now she publishes the book "School in Corona mode-impressions and experiences of students". Mr. Greilich, you have been the chairman of the association since the foundation, how did the idea for the book come about? How does this fit into the concern of the association?

The Hessen campaign helped in my own school days as an initiative of students and adolescents because the war of war in the former Yugoslavia had shaken us and we wanted to try to help. To date, several hundred Hessian schools have contributed to the "Hessian School campaign for people in need".

Since I have my own children, it has become increasingly important for me with their increasing age to expand the social horizon of the students involved through joint projects with the schools and to have the world understand a bit more. In Corona times, pupils themselves are "people in need"-this is how the idea emerged to focus on their concerns and needs.

The band gathers contributions from boys and girls from primary school age to high school. How did this wide range come about?

In fact, students of all ages and school forms from all parts of Hesse have contributed to contributions. Sometimes we have been working with the schools for many years, sometimes new partners felt addressed by the book idea and encouraged their students to participate.

The special thing is that contributions from elementary school students stand in addition to those of vocational students, from high school students alongside those of special students. Everyone is expressed in other ways, but in total they show an immediate mood of the Hessian student body.

They consciously decided against an evaluation or classification of the contributions and have also made no editorial revision. Why?

We are aware that the contributions differ qualitatively, but we were not concerned with an artistic or literary competition, but we wanted to let children and young people have a say - with their impressions and experiences, honest and unadorned, in self -selected artistic forms, without obstacle formal regulations. We feel this variety as an expression of authenticity - this is also evident in the result.

What feelings did you work on the book during work?

I was affected many times. Through my own children, through their friends, through two schools, whose school parents' advisory board I was going, I was already close. But in this concentrated manner to see and read how much the Corona crisis is on the students, I hadn't expected that.

This made the pure idea a heart project for me; The student contributions are very personal and moving and I find it absolutely worth publishing them and thereby preserving them.

In addition to two adult daughters, you have a nine -year -old son. Did you talk to him about the book?

Of course, the book was always an issue at home. Our son experiences the "Corona mode" from the perspective of a primary school student, our middle daughter is graduating from high school under these conditions. Even for our big daughter as a student, there is nothing more like it was at the beginning of the course, and we parents are also part of "School in Corona mode".

My wife and our children accompanied and supported the book, introduced ideas and our son designed several posts. He also did well to express his feelings in this way.

And where would you like to talk about "School in Corona mode"?

At schools everyone knows the effects of pandemic and their restrictions. But I would like politics to notice a little more of the consequences of its decisions.

In principle, anyone who was enrolled in elementary school this school year does not know any school without a mask, no romp in the schoolyard, no comforting hug a teacher, even not even daily lessons at school. What this does with our children in the medium and long term is not yet in sight. If you want to empathize, you get deep insights through the student contributions.

About "Aktion Hessen helps"

The “Aktion Hessen Hilfe” EV, founded in 1995, was created as an initiative of students and adolescents for the victims of the civil war in Yugoslavia . Since then, the club has provided humanitarian aid in crisis, disaster and war areas in around 30 countries: for example after the earthquake in Nepal (2015), the TAIFUN in the Philippines (2013), Tsunami in Sri Lanka and Indonesia (2004), the earthquake in Haiti (2010), the floods in Serbia and Bosnia (2014) or the earthquake in Croatia (2020), but also in your own country during flooding on the Elbe (2002 and 2013).

The association cooperates, among other things, with the refugee agency of the associations nations, non -governmental organizations, general consulates and parishes. Since 2013, Hesse's former Minister of Culture Dorothea Henzler has been a patron of the "Hessian school campaign for people in need" launched by the "Aktion Hessen helps".

Since then, several hundred Hessian schools with well over 100,000 students have participated in this. The seat of the association is Ortenberg. Chairman is a founding member Tobias Greilich. The sales and marketing manager has traveled to crisis areas more than a hundred times.

He describes his experiences as a humanitarian helper in the former Yugoslavia in the book "The Night on which the future burned" (2016).

Website: www.hessen-hilft.de