The municipality of Emmen will investigate whether it is possible that a free ticket for Wildlands will be available annually for all students of group eight of Emmer primary schools. The visit should become part of the educational offer.
A proposal for this from Wakker Emmen was supported by almost the entire city council on Thursday evening.
“We believe that every child under the age of thirteen in the municipality of Emmen should have visited Wildlands at least once,” says Leo Hoogenberg, Wakker Emmen party leader. “Because it is a very nice park, but also because children can learn a lot from it.”
However, a large proportion of the children in Emmen grow up in a household with a low income. “Due to a lack of money, it is hardly possible for these parents to go to the zoo with the family for a day. After all, the costs of this can add up quickly.”
To allow these children to come into contact with Wildlands, Wakker Emmen came up with the plan to link a visit to the zoo to education. “The idea is that free tickets will be made available to all primary schools for students in group eight every year. This concerns 61 schools and an average of between nine hundred and twelve hundred pupils per year.” The school would have to arrange and pay for its own transport and go to Wildlands with the entire group of eight.
‘No school trip’
The visit should be linked to lessons about nature. ,, Of course the children are allowed to go to the playground and the roller coaster there, but there must also be room for education. So we are not thinking about a school trip, ”says Hoogenberg. In the proposal, which already received support from D66 before being discussed in the council meeting on Thursday, the college of mayor and aldermen is called upon to consult with Wildlands.
The starting point is that it costs both the municipality and Wildlands no money. Hoogenberg: ,,So that Wildlands makes the tickets available for free? Yes, that’s the idea” Apart from Wildlands, consultation is of course necessary with the schools to see whether they are up for the plan.
The parties of GroenLinks and the SP voted against. “We think it’s a sympathetic proposal, but if you want to reach the target group mentioned (children from poor families), you can also use the participation web shop,” said party leader Bernadette van der Woude of GroenLinks. The SP believes that the municipality of Wildlands should not ask this in this way.
Police station
The mayor and aldermen were also called upon to make a case for the preservation of the police station in Klazienaveen. A majority of the city council also wants Emmen to do its best to enthuse a cultural institution with a national or international reputation to move into part of the former cellars of the Biochron in the former zoo.