Wiederkehr clarifies

Wiederkehr: “No ban on checkroom symbols”

(Bild: Krone KREATIV/krone.tv, stock.adobe.com, zVg)

"Freedom and autonomy are important," says the City Councillor for Education. Many kindergartens choose their wardrobe symbols.

There is no ban on kindergarten symbols, and there won't be with me," explains Vienna's City Councillor for Education and Deputy Mayor Christoph Wiederkehr (Neos) in an interview with the "Krone" newspaper.

So how can it be that drawings such as mushrooms, flowers and butterflies (see article on the right) are increasingly being banned?

Institutions are allowed to decide for themselves
The answer is simple: the facilities are allowed to decide for themselves whether or not to dispose of the mushroom in the organic waste garbage can. And so there are still a few traditional kindergartens that rely on drawings so that children who cannot yet read can find their way around the clothes rack. And there are also those who do without them out of a misguided sense of political correctness so as not to upset the little ones.

In any case, there is no "ban" of any kind on the use of symbols.

Bildungsstadtrat Christoph Wiederkehr

Bild: APA/GEORG HOCHMUTH

Is there a recommendation from the city council? Wiederkehr: "I'm not a teacher. My recommendation is to find a coherent system with local specialists, parents and children. This could be symbols, the name, photos or drawings. Freedom and autonomy are important to me."

Wiederkehr explains further: "The City of Vienna is a leader in Austria in terms of both kindergarten expansion and educational quality. Since this year, we have been investing over one billion euros per year in high-quality elementary education."

The result of this autonomy policy: the checkroom symbols are becoming increasingly extinct.