Bochum-Altenbochum.
Swimming lessons are compulsory – but they have only taken place once in a primary school in Altenbochum since the summer holidays. There are several reasons for this.
The Wasserwelten Bochum will be on strike again on Tuesday (March 21). This also means that swimming lessons for a second class at the Vels-Heide-School in Altenbochum have to be canceled again. This should take place regularly since the summer holidays, but so far there has only been a single hour.
That took place in February. After that, the strike caused two absences, and another will follow in the coming week, says a mother whose daughter is affected. Five out of six swimming lessons at the elementary school have been canceled since February. “For this reason, we have made exercise offers in different places,” says a teacher at the Vels-Heide-School.
In the months before, there was no swimming pool available for the children in the second grade – another problem that makes swimming and physical education lessons more difficult: the lack of sports facilities in Bochum. So the children suffer twice, from the infrastructure and the closures caused by the strikes. “The strikes were the last straw,” the mother continued.
Swimming lessons at Bochum primary school are canceled: “Strike hits the wrong people”
Swimming lessons are particularly important in elementary school, as some children cannot yet swim. When it was supposed to start at the beginning of the second half of the year, the joy was great: “The children were really happy, we got a bathing cap and swimming gear and were ready.” Understanding: “Those who are to be reached don’t care, children and their interests are never relevant,” she writes in an e-mail to our editors.
Although she sees the strikes by the Verdi union for better employee rights in principle as positive, consideration must also be given. Even during the corona pandemic, the children would have had to do without a lot. Her solution: “Those responsible could at least have chosen different days of the week or made exceptions for things that affect children.” Verdi did not comment on this subject when asked by our editors.
Not only swimming pools are missing in Bochum, also sports halls are needed
Instead of swimming, physical education was taught in the second class of the Vels-Heide school in the first half of the year, but not in a gym. Although the Vels-Heide elementary school has its own school, it was not available to the elementary school students during the relevant hours because it was being used by another school. The only option: exercise in the nearby park. The mother complains that Bochum not only lacks swimming pools, but also sports facilities in general.
“Expert reports have determined that we still have an open need for sports halls,” confirms Peter van Dyk, spokesman for the city of Bochum when asked by the WAZ. “This situation is exacerbated by the fact that a triple sports hall at the Erich Kästner School burned down and the new building has not yet been completed.” The situation with the swimming areas is similar.
The city is currently working on the lack of infrastructure. Within a project, the school needs for indoor and swimming sports are recorded. In the course of this, the distribution to the existing areas is to be replanned. “In particular, unnecessarily long travel times should be avoided,” says van Dyk. In addition, it is to be examined where new sports areas need to be built in Bochum so that the infrastructural problem can be solved.
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