Thousands of children in northern Germany became the first in Europe to begin a new school year today after months of curtailed hours over the coronavirus pandemic.
Education ministers across Germany's 16 states had agreed for schools to reopen full-time after the summer break. In Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, the first state to restart full-time classes, 150,000 pupils returned to their classrooms.
With children in Hamburg to also return to school later this week and Berlin to follow next week, a debate is now growing over whether full-time school is realistic as infection numbers rise in Germany above 500 per day again.