State parliament rejects mobile swimming containers
The Rhineland-Palatinate state parliament has voted in favor of strengthening swimming facilities at schools. However, a motion by the opposition CDU to introduce mobile swimming containers was rejected by a majority on Wednesday in Mainz. Several speakers from various parliamentary groups justified this with the results of an expert hearing, which showed that the containers are helpful for getting children used to water, but do not replace swimming lessons.
"It remains our goal that every child should be able to swim by the end of elementary school," said Interior Minister Michael Ebling (SPD). Although swimming containers are "nice to have", they cannot be meaningfully integrated into the educational work of schools; they are also too small. The state government, on the other hand, continues to focus on various projects and has also increased the budget for them.
The parliamentary group leader of the Free Voters, Joachim Streit, called for a master plan from the state government and local authorities to ensure that all children could learn to swim at elementary school.
In their motion, the SPD, Greens and FDP call on the state government, among other things, to support training in the swimming and pool sector with suitable measures, to maintain funding for swimming courses for young children at a high level and to develop suitable concepts for expanding the range of swimming courses with all those involved. This also included courses in vacation care and more trained swimming instructors.
Despite the rejection of mobile swimming containers in Parliament, leisure time activities remain crucial for children's development. Parliamentary leaders from various groups emphasized the importance of swimming lessons over these containers.
Source: www.dpa.com
