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

Like all German students, Eric Grabowski can’t return to school after the Christmas break. With a country-wide lockdown just having been extended because of continued high rates of coronavirus infections, the tenth-grader will likely have to stay home until the end of January.

Right now, Eric should be having a French class online, the 15-year-old tells DW on the phone. “I’m sitting in front of my laptop, trying to access my school’s learning platform. But again, nothing works at all.”

Eric’s comprehensive school near Kaiserslautern in southwestern Germany is not the only one struggling with the transition to remote learning. In many parts of the country, pupils and teachers report similar difficulties.