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topicnews · August 31, 2024

Difficult start for Nettenscheid children in school care

Difficult start for Nettenscheid children in school care

  1. come on
  2. Lennetal
  3. Altena

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From: Ina Hornemann

It was not a good start to school for the Nettenscheid children who use the after-school care service. They were assigned to the Dahle school location for this purpose – but they can no longer take the bus home from there because none of the three buses took the children at the appropriate times.

Altena – A fiasco that desperate parents had turned to local councillor Ulrich Biroth (SDA) about. The families affected had expressed their opinion that they were considering taking their children out of care altogether and reducing their working hours to prevent their children from being left behind in Dahle. The administration was already aware of the problem and treasurer Stefan Kemper had already made a fuss at the MVG.

Since no bus driver is willing or able to let the children from the school daycare get on the bus at any of the three departure times, an unconventional solution has now been found: eight children are now being taken by taxi from the school daycare center in Dahle to their home bus stop. Stefan Kemper does not see this as a permanent solution: “The MVG must influence its drivers to take these children with them.” We have made this clear emphatically!”

No bus that was supposed to pick up the children in Dahle picked up the elementary school students. © Nougrigat

Ulrich Biroth is still not satisfied. “For Nettenscheid’s primary school children, the route to school in Dahle is not a good one. They have to walk along the busy Westiger Straße. I would like to suggest an inspection of the school route.”

Rita Rüth (Greens) also doesn’t like the fact that a total of 19 children have to wait on the narrow sidewalk at the bus stop. She asks that the situation be investigated.

Convenient disposal of inconvenient passengers: A commentary

Oh, how familiar that sounds to me, as SDA councillor Ulrich Biroth described it in the council. How much time did Altena children have to waste at the Dahle school location because drivers obviously didn’t want children on the bus. The time between the end of school and departure was short, the bus stop was empty and the children rushing across the schoolyard didn’t want to see or hear, they could continue their journey comfortably and undisturbed. But: I was at school there more than 32 years ago and back then it was still the case that children had nothing to complain about. You waited for the next bus, ate the cold lunch, had less time for homework and playmates and older people’s insults on top of that. When we were 18 we got our driving licence and then we waged war with our own cars, voluntarily not setting foot on the bus again. The MVG operated then as it does now, suffering from declining passenger numbers, groaning under high operating costs and still allows itself to leave uncomfortable passengers with short legs standing. Will these children ever spend the first money they earn on a bus ticket? I highly doubt it. Ina Hornemann

The diesel era at the Märkische Verkehrsgesellschaft (MVG) was coming to an end. New diesel buses were put into operation for the last time.

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