The only primary school in Vianen will disappear. The village under the smoke of Cuijk has about 1200 inhabitants and that simply does not produce enough growth for its own primary school. That is why De Akkerwinde primary school is going to merge with Dr. The Quay School in Beers. That new school will be located in Beers. And they are not happy about that in Vianen.
For two years there has been talk of merging the primary schools of Beers and Vianen. Two small villages near Cuijk, which are actually both too small for their own primary school. But when the school in Vianen closes, many parents would rather send their children to a school in Cuijk than in Beers. “The whole life is already focused on Cuijk,” says Ton Hofmans of the village council in Vianen. “People work in Cuijk and do their shopping there.”
“My children will soon go to school in Cuijk.”
Lisa Jans picks up her daughter at the school in Vianen. “She’s just getting used to school here.” She is concerned about the quality of life in the village when the school closes. “I think our daughter will soon be going to school in Cuijk. That’s closer.” The school in Beers is 2.5 kilometers away. The one in Cuijk 1.5 kilometers.
Eelke Peeters is pregnant and has a child of one and a half. She is also disappointed that the school is closing. “I work in Cuijk. So it is not at all convenient for me to take the children to school in Beers first. My children will probably go to school in Cuijk soon.”
“This is also bad for our associations.”
And that is exactly what the village council of Vianen is afraid of. That the children of Vianen end up at different schools. “A primary school in Cuijk is closer than the one in Beers,” says Hofmans. “When children go to school in Cuijk, they get friends there. We are afraid that they will also go to the football club there. That is bad for our associations.”
Dave van Keijsteren is active at football club Vianen Vooruit, among others. “We work a lot with Beers. That’s going very well. We also need each other. This is how we will merge our women’s teams.” But Dave is also worried about the future of the association. “If more children go to school in Cuijk, I am afraid that they will also join sports clubs there.”
In the meantime, a petition has been started that has already been signed by almost 800 people. Especially to indicate that a school in Beers is a bad plan for the quality of life of both villages. “We would much rather have seen that school halfway through our villages,” says Hofmans of the village council. “But that turns out not to be possible.”