An incident in the Voitsberg elementary school, in which a nine-year-old with a mask exemption apparently had to write the science lesson test in sub-zero temperatures in front of the school, arouses tempers. The post was shared thousands of times within a few hours, and the background to the picture is still unclear at this point.
An official meeting with the headmistress and the class teacher is to take place this Friday, during which they can take a stand. In addition, it is emphasized that the legal provisions do not provide for the possibility of conducting written examinations outside the school building. “This is not usual and certainly not permissible in this form,” said Deputy Director of Education Bernhard Just of ORF Styria. But Just also indicated the consequences for those who “spread false reports and make threats” because of the picture on social media. The police are already involved.
Parents knew about the test
The child’s father has now spoken up and shares the background to the picture with the Kleine Zeitung. “My wife and I took the photos,” says the man. The picture was taken on January 11th. At this point, it was already clear to the parents that they would withdraw their son from school. “During the Christmas holidays we got an appointment with a doctor who issued a mask exemption for our son,” said Fischer. According to the “Kleine Zeitung”, the doctor is the vaccination-skeptical Graz doctor Klaus Bielau, who was reported by the medical association in 2019 after a vaccination opponents’ documentary.
The father does not want to say exactly why the boy needs a mask exemption. “We were informed that the certificate would not be accepted by the management and that we had to pick it up”. The director informed the father that she was responsible for 340 children and therefore did not want to risk anything happening.
But why did the boy have to write a general education test on Tuesday when it was below zero? “It was important to us that my son took the test before he left school, he prepared for it for three weeks,” says the father. The boys’ class teachers then came up with this solution. “That was apparently the only way he could still write the test.” For this reason, the family drove to the school building for the test on Tuesday and took the boy to the class window. The nine-year-old then completed the test for 15 to 20 minutes in front of the window alongside the rest of the class. “While the headmistress said the test wasn’t that important at times like this, we said we insisted because studying was weighing him down and that took that weight off him.”
Saying goodbye to his school was obviously difficult for the boy. “I really liked my teachers and will miss my friends,” he says.
Source: Nachrichten
