Project goes down well

Elementary school has a walking day instead of parent cabs

The children arrive at school more relaxed after the walk, reports principal Margit Mittermaier.

(Bild: Krone KREATIV/Schulweg-Bild: Daniel Scharinger Direktorin: zVg)

Eager "cab parents" who drive their children directly to the school entrance in Kirchdorf an der Krems outrage many readers. Tenor: exercise wouldn't do the children any harm at all. In Wilhering, primary school children walk to the classroom every Thursday with volunteers.

"Our daughter is in second grade. Last year, she went to school on her own, but to be honest, we don't dare to do that anymore." That's why father Christof L. is currently accompanying his child to elementary school in Kirchdorf an der Krems. The reason: "cab parents", who drive their children to the new entrance in a narrow street, are causing a lot of traffic and sometimes dangerous situations, which is why the police are already enforcing the stopping and parking ban - we reported.

Contentious issue on the way to school: "Roads are no longer so safe"
Readers on krone.at commented around 600 times on the report about the eager parents. Tenor: Exercise by "walking machine" would not harm the children. "I used to walk to school! Around two kilometers each way!" says one reader. "It's about time something was done about these parent cabs anyway. It doesn't do the children any harm to walk a few meters to school," says another.

Few others, however, express understanding for the parent cab, which of course affects every school location: "Sometimes there is no bus", or "The roads are no longer as safe as they used to be", these comments read.

In Wilhering, pupils walk every Thursday
In Wilhering, Dörnbach elementary school has been countering morning car traffic with a "walking day" for eleven years: "Every Thursday, the children walk to school accompanied by volunteers on six different routes," explains principal Margit Mittermaier. "There are fixed meeting points and a walking schedule." The pupils stream into the classroom in ever-growing groups from all directions. The furthest meeting point is in Mühlbach, from where the children walk three kilometers to their elementary school.

The project is well received, with almost all pupils taking part. "We don't take it too seriously on Thursdays if a group is late," says Mittermaier. "During the beet harvest, the children had so much to look at that they were a bit late."