As of: March 1, 2024, 2:45 p.m
By: Sabina Brosch
Comments
Press
Split
The spectrum in the new VHS issue is large.
The team has big plans for the beginning of the season: (from left) Timea Göghova, Laura Salamano, Andreas Tontsch, Lourdes Maria Ros de Andres and Gabriele Müller.
© Sabina Brosch
When it comes to the question of how VHS Haar will cope with the cuts, there is still no solution in sight.
The starting signal for registrations for the new course year has now been given.
Haar
– The new VHS Haar program booklet has been in circulation since this week and this marked the start of registrations for the new summer semester.
750 courses are on offer under the motto “There’s more to it!”
However, there are also problems of a financial nature.
In the coming weeks, the auditor appointed by the municipality will take another look at the VHS figures.
“It’s about a long-term concept,” says Ros de Andrés.
However, what the bottom line will be is uncertain.
“Because we have to meet the minimum standards required by the Adult Education Association, which are set.” It is not possible to save one area.
So make the program booklet thinner or do without it altogether?
One could and should certainly think about increasing fees.
Nevertheless, it is important to remain affordable, especially in times when many people are financially tight anyway.
Tasks of public services and quality of life
These are questions that the VHS management and the VHS team are currently discussing.
Nevertheless, a comparison with other adult education centers showed that “we are in the corridor.
We can only do our work with this structure.” We have a municipal mandate to provide public services and a secure quality of life.
“Where should an adult who wants to learn something go if not to the VHS?” asks Müller.
Increasing numbers of participants mean increasing income, but these are offset by rising salaries due to tariff increases.
There are also increasing operating costs, “which we never actually had to pay, but which are now included in the municipal budget.
“We could somehow have lived with the five percent increase,” says Ros de Andrés.
Müller certainly understands that the municipality needs to save money and take a closer look.
“But you have to look very closely so that you don’t destroy existing structures.”
Twelve languages at different levels
The cover photo on the VHS booklet has symbolic power.
A ladder that reaches into the sky is intended to take you into the diverse world of courses that the team of lecturers has put together from the areas of young VHS, society, culture, work and IT, languages and health: twelve languages at different levels, a culinary, informative, relaxing and active health portfolio as well as the chance to get a taste of the crafts.
The program also offers discovery tours of art and countries, as well as topics on self-protection, ecology and the environment, history and politics, as well as the digital world with PCs, smartphones and artificial intelligence.
This summer, the VHS has set its sights on poetry with its local poets and thinkers in the area of languages.
A focus is on men, who can feel addressed with special Pilates and yoga courses led by a male instructor.
19 integration courses alone take place mainly in rooms provided by the churches.
Around 400 people a week learn German here, prepare for their naturalization and, above all, receive optimal help to start their careers.
You can use it to purchase certificates, “valuable papers,” emphasizes VHS board chairwoman Gabriele Müller.
“The VHS makes an extremely valuable contribution to integration here.”
All-day care is a pillar of the VHS
Another pillar of the VHS is all-day care.
240 children per week are looked after here by the VHS.
VHS managing director Lourdes Maria Ros de Andrés is also satisfied with 4,300 registrations just a few days after the program was printed: A significant increase compared to the previous year is noticeable, but there are still around 1,200 registrations behind the pre-Corona status.
“Yes, things are looking up, but there’s still something going on.”