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Allow porn in schools: Swiss men’s group

A Swiss organization for men and fathers is pressing for teachers to be given the freedom to show pornographic materials to children in class.

The group, Männer.ch, told newspaper NZZ am Sonntag that it wants teachers to be able to show children porn in the classroom so that young people can learn how to deal with it.

The group is calling for a change in the law so that "parents and trained professionals are not liable to prosecution if they make pornographic materials accessible to 16-year-olds with a clear educational objective and within a carefully selected and well-defined setting."

The leader of the movement is 39-year-old sociologist and psychologist Markus Theunert.

“Today, an overwhelming majority of children have already seen pornographic movies over the internet or on smartphones,” he told NZZ.

To facilitate debate in the classroom Theunert wants teachers of sex education to be able to show pupils "a few minutes of soft pornography". The group stresses that pupils would be free to opt out if they were opposed to viewing porn at school.

The idea has caused outrage among many. Swiss People’s Party parliamentarian Anita Borer believes the idea of showing children porn films in school is “totally inappropriate” and that the content would overwhelm many students.

Others say they are keen to encourage pupils to talk about sex in the classroom but draw the line at pornography.

“It’s good to talk but you don’t have to show images,” Luc Barthassat of the Christian Democratic People’s Party told Le Matin.

Aside from heading Männer.ch, Theunert also recently became Zurich's first ever male affairs representative, a post his critics feel he has now jeopardized. 

“If Mr. Theunert makes such questionable statements again then he must accept the consequences and resign from his position," Swiss People’s Party parliament member Rochus Burtscher told 20 Minuten.

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SCHOOL

Bavaria plans 100 million rapid Covid tests to allow all pupils to return to school

In the southern state of Bavaria, schools have been promised 100 million self-tests starting next week so that more children can start being taught in person again. But teachers say the test strategy isn't being implemented properly.

Bavaria plans 100 million rapid Covid tests to allow all pupils to return to school
Children in the classroom in Bavaria. Photo:Matthias Balk/DPA

State leaders Markus Söder said on Friday that the first 11 million of the DIY tests had already arrived and would now be distributed through the state.

“It’s no good in the long run if the testing for the school is outside the school,” Söder told broadcaster Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR) during a visit to a school in Nuremberg.

“Contrary to what has been planned in Berlin, we’ve pre-ordered in Bavaria: for this year we have 100 million tests.”

Bavaria, Germany’s largest state in terms of size, plans to bring all children back into schools starting on Monday.

SEE ALSO: ‘The right thing to do’ – How Germany is reopening its schools

However, high coronavirus case rates mean that these plans have had to be shelved in several regions.

In Nuremberg, the state’s second largest city, primary school children have been sent back into distance learning after just a week back in the classroom.

The city announced on Friday that schools would have to close again after the 7-day incidence rose above 100 per 100,000 inhabitants.

The nearby city of Fürth closed its schools after just two days of classroom time on Wednesday, after the 7-day incidence rose to 135.

The Bavarian test strategy plans for school children to receive one test per week, while teachers have the possibility of taking two tests a week. The testing is not compulsory.

But teachers’ unions in the southern state have warned that the test capacity only exists on paper and have expressed concern that their members will become infected in the workplace.

“Our teachers are afraid of infection,” Almut Wahl, headmistress of a secondary school in Munich, told BR24.

“Officially they are allowed to be tested twice a week, we have already received a letter about this. But the tests are not there.”

BR24 reports that, contrary to promises made by the state government, teachers in many schools have still not been vaccinated, ventilation systems have not been installed in classrooms, and the test infrastructure has not been put in place.

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