Municipal schools cancel ski camps

Holding ski camps despite the Omikron variant? The municipal schools in Zug say that would be irresponsible – and already cancelled the snow sports camps before Christmas. On the other hand, the cantonal schools want to wait to see how the pandemic progresses before making a decision.

No pillow fights in the dormitories, no skiing or snowboarding fun: the Zug municipal schools have cancelled the ski camps during the sports holidays for the second time in a row. The reason: once again it’s the Corona infection. "An implementation would simply be irresponsible in view of the increasing number of cases," says Peter Meier, rector of the school in Steinhausen and chairman of the Rectors' Conference of the municipal schools.

The decision was made in Zug before Christmas – and thereby before the federal government advised schools not to organise any ski camps. Peter Meier says:

"Of course we regret the cancellation, very much so. But we needed to act early as a school, and the parents also needed some security with regard to their planning..

The ski camp of the Menzingen Cantonal School was planned to be in Andermatt.
Photo: Valentin Luthiger

It wasn’t possible to predict in December how the situation would develop. And in any case, adds the Steinhausen rector, it would hardly have been possible to comply with the protection concepts in the camp. The same rules would have had to apply in the 20-person dormitories as in the classroom, so masks would have been mandatory. "Camps and school are not the same thing, and living together at close quarters is different from life at school," he adds.

The cancellation has not resulted in criticism of the school
It’s also clear that the parents understand the decision, as he hasn't heard anything from them so far, neither encouragement nor criticism.

While the primary and secondary school pupils from Walchwil to Ägerital have to work out what to do with themselves during the sports holidays, the pupils of the cantonal schools don’t yet know what will happen next – and this is also the case for their parents. The ski camps planned by the cantonal schools have not yet been cancelled, neither in Zug nor Menzingen. A decision will be made in Zug at the end of next week, says Deputy Rector Rolf Peterhans: "The decision that we will make in consultation with the cantonal authorities will largely depend on the development of the pandemic."

The school management in Menzingen wants to give themselves a bit more time. Whether the Menzingen students will go to the two camps in Andermatt and Elm will be definitively decided by the end of January. Rector Gabrijela Pejic-Glisic says:

"If the situation develops in such a way that the risk of infection in the camp would be far too high, and we couldn’t comply with the measures recommended by the FOPH, we will cancel the ski camps."

The schools are closely monitoring the situation, in close contact with the cantonal authorities.

Schools must also reduce their leisure programmes
The sports holidays are from 5 to 20 February, and, for many years, the schools have been offering leisure courses during this period. When it announced the cancellation of the ski camps at the end of December, the Rectors' Conference stated that "The supervision services during the sports week are still ensured." But Corona is also making life difficult for the schools here, and they’ve had to greatly reduce the offers. According to Peter Meier, they will carry out whatever can be offered within the protection concepts.

The course program in Steinhausen was planned to include 22 activities – from B for baking to T for Tierpark Goldau. But only a few of these will now be possible. Rector Peter Meier adds: "Only a handful of these activities will probably be able to take place."