In the old school house from 1902, generations of Vemundviking students have received their education. Just before the summer holidays, the proposal came to close both this and several other schools in Namsos in the north of Trøndelag. – It is so sad, and will affect the whole village. Not only those who go to school and work there, but also the sports team and other teams and associations, says mother of small children Maria Konstanse Bruun. Moved home from England Bruun recently moved home to Namsos from England with his family. Bought a house in the hamlet of Botnan, and bet on a future here. – We would never have done that if we had known that the school in the village was to be closed. We would never subject our children to the burden of sitting on a bus for hours to go to a school in the center of Namsos, she says. Both Sørenget school and Namso’s primary school are proposed to be closed. The same applies to the junior high school at another village school. In addition, it is proposed to merge three secondary schools into one. Today, the children spend around 20 minutes getting to school. If they have to go all the way to Namsos, it will take around 40 minutes. Both children and adults are involved in the fight for Sørenget School in Vemundvik. Photo: Espen Sandmo / news 37 village schools disappeared last year Figures from the Directorate of Education show that over the past ten years 240 schools have closed down in Norway. Last year alone, 37 schools disappeared. At the same time, there have been 20,000 more primary school pupils in the same period. As in Namsos, lower population numbers and poorer municipal finances are often the arguments for closure. – We just have to do something with our school structure. We will save NOK 22 million if the proposal to close schools is adopted by the politicians. The population in the municipality is decreasing, and in just under ten years we will have NOK 50 million less to run the schools for, says acting head of education in Namsos, Knut Storeide, to news. Acting head of education Knut Storeide says Namsos municipality will have to do something about the school structure going forward. Photo: Espen Sandmo / news Higher quality of learning – Longer driving times to central schools are also challenging in terms of health. In addition, it appears that less time is spent outside in the local environment and nature in education at the larger schools. Closing the district schools also makes the local communities less attractive for parents of young children to move to. That’s what professor emeritus at the University of Volda, Rune Kvalsund, says. And he believes politicians often forget that the quality of learning also has value. – I believe that the quality of learning is higher in small schools, where there are fewer students per teacher, he says. Researcher Rune Kvalsund believes that politicians often forget that the quality of learning is often better in the smaller village schools. He is supported by researcher Karl Johan Solstad at Nordlandsforskning. He has been researching school provision in the districts since the 1970s. – The primary schools in the districts are being razed, says Solstad. – The financing scheme must be changed if this is to be stopped. If we want people to live in the districts, the politicians nationally must find solutions for how the municipalities must commit to, and be enabled to maintain the school offer, he believes. – At the same time, it is easy to see that small schools can have their challenges, but it is equally important to bring out the values they have for the pupils’ physical health, well-being, and for pleasant and sustainable rural communities, believes the researcher from Nordland. Close to 150 protests But the protests have flowed in after the proposal was presented earlier this summer. In the course of a few weeks, close to 150 people have written protest replies to Namsos municipality. One of those who react is father of small children Geir Aalberg, who attended Sørenget school himself when he was small. Now he has children at another school threatened with closure, namely Namso’s primary school. – Closing down primary schools is the stupidest thing you can do if you want to increase housing demand, and for more families with young children to establish themselves in Namsos. It will just be completely wrong, and cannot be adopted, he says. Geir Aalberg thinks it is stupid for politicians to close primary schools. – Then it will be difficult to get families with small children to Namsos, he believes. Photo: Espen Sandmo / news – The heart in our village Back at Sørenget school, Maria Konstanse Bruun looks at a large banner that says “Let Sørenget live”. – We have actually increased the population in this part of Namsos in recent years, because more families with children want to establish themselves here. Then the school cannot be closed down. It is the heart of our village, she believes.
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Schools are proposed to be closed in Namsos in Trøndelag – news Trøndelag
