Who pays for bus rides

Swimming lessons are still about money

Swimming lessons are compulsory, but the distances to indoor pools are often long in rural areas

(Bild: Scharinger Daniel)

A third of primary school pupils can barely keep their heads above water. Nevertheless, there is an ongoing discussion about bus rides, admissions and instructors _ in other words, once again - about money. 

Free school fees is the buzzword around which everything revolves when it comes to school swimming courses. It means that they should not cost parents anything - or rather, they should. Admission to the indoor pool must be paid for by the school providers - usually the local authorities. "But the costs for coaches or swimming instructors are often borne by the parents," says SP education spokesperson Doris Margreiter.

Unfortunately, we were not given any information on which children and in which regions there is the greatest shortage of courses.

Doris Margreiter, Bildungssprecherin der SPÖ im Landtag

Bild: SPÖ

Large bus costs up to 400 euros per half day"A large bus that is in use for half a day costs around 300 to 400 euros in the district," says the bus company Pernsteiner, which mainly operates in the Rohrbach district. For a class of 25 children, that's twelve euros each. Many municipalities pay for the bus rides, but not all of them.

Circular letter from the Education Directorate
The Upper Austrian Education Directorate has noted in a circular letter to schools that all costs must be covered by the school provider. A statement from the Ministry of Education only mentions admissions.

Applications were rejected
Requests for the province of Upper Austria to cover these costs until there is a nationwide solution have been rejected, and the Ministry of Education has "fed back" a resolution to the province and the municipalities. The idea of linking the bus trips with the free school trips is just an idea.

Answers were "not very concrete"
In view of the fact that, according to studies, every third primary school child in Upper Austria is a non-swimmer, the SPÖ asked education officer Christine Haberlander (ÖVP) what the situation was with regard to training. According to the SPÖ, one of the answers to the 21 questions was "not very concrete" overall: the Red Cross issued 19,164 swimming badges last year - for 62,956 primary school children and 42,964 secondary school pupils. However, it is assumed that 95 to 98 percent of children take part in swimming lessons.