There are a million questions that come up during an international move, and one of the most pressing for families is: Where do I send my kids to school? This is no simple question. Finding and vetting schools and arranging enrollment can be a challenge, and the choice of a school can shape a family’s social life and cultural adjustment.
Demonstration Against Military Exercises Turns Violent; Kids Football Pitch for St. Johann; Vacancies on the Rise; Switzerland Prepares Offer of Asylum
Though Basel's hometown soccer stars, the FCB provide athletic inspiration for young and old alike, it has become difficult for many of Basel's neighborhoods to provide sufficient resources for its children to participate in the sport. The demand for places on existing junior leagues greatly outnumbers the number of available places on their rosters, leaving many kids to play pickup games in the streets and parks throughout the city. Nowhere has this been more challenging than in the highly urbanized and gentrifying neighborhood of St. Johann, where parents have been clamoring for years to have the municipal government provide resources. It appears now however, that the wait is finally over. Yesterday, municipal education director Christoph Eymann attended the new football for kids program at the Tschudimatte building in the heart of the St. Johann district. The program director Leonie Schüssler was also present who described the success of the launch as the result of close cooperation between the city's educational system, public extracurricular programs and the Jacobs Foundation - a Swiss charitable enterprise focused on innovations in the service of children and youth. The program which is open to 40-50 children from the neighborhood targets four to 13 year-olds, and will field a team coached by FCB junior team coach Joachim Eble.
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According to statistics released by the federal government in Bern yesterday, the shortage of housing in Switzerland's major cities is easing. Overall, the number of vacant flats in the country rose to a total of 51,172, a 12% increase from the numbers measured the same time last year. While this implies an overall vacancy rate of a paltry 1.19% as of June 1st this year, the increase was still welcome to those looking for housing. The vast majority of the flats available are rentals, while approximately 20% are for sale. Baselstadt still ranks as the canton with the lowest vacancy rate at 0.34%, and the canton of Jura, the highest at 2.35%. In case you were interested in finding a single-family home, you're also in luck, as the national vacancy rate has risen 14% over last year to 6,416 homes.
*************************According to the Swiss news agency RTS, Switzerland is preparing to offer to accept 4000-5000 refugees from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan who have entered Europe. The federal government will discuss the offer at a meeting this Friday and will likely present its final offer to the EU in Brussels a week from today. The circumstances of refugees changed dramatically last week after Germany, which now expects to take in one million refugees, temporarily closed its borders after being overwhelmed and unable to process inbound migrants. This action cascaded throughout Eastern Europe, the main point of entry into the EU by the refugees, where Austria, Hungary, Slovenia and Croatia also closed their borders, causing violent clashes in some places. So far the EU has responded by calling for an Emergency Summit next week to discuss a quota system for settlement within Europe. The goal of the EU and Switzerland is to coordinate the settlement of existing migrants, and to aid Non-Governmental Organizations operating to improve conditions in the migrant's home countries.