How much should it cost to go for a swim? That's the question Tampere daily Aamulehti is pondering on Tuesday, as it follows up on the news that a new municipal swimming pool in Lempäälä is to charge nearly 30 euros for adults to swim at the weekends.
Pirkanmaa MP and former triathlete Pauli Kiuru (NCP) has weighed in on the matter, drawing attention to the municipality's application for state funding for the pool.
AL reports that the application includes the statements that "everyone has the right to exercise", that swimming is part of "a citizen's basic skills", and that "sports facilities are a basic municipal service".
That does not quite tally with the new pool's tiered pricing model. That model changes the cost of a swim depending on the time and day. It has priced a weekend swim for adults at 29 euros, with a child's ticket going for 18 euros.
Kiuru has asked for an explanation, and hopes that the pricing model could be revisited.
"A [municipal] swimming hall was founded, but the pricing was taken from the spa," said Kiuru.
There has been concern in Finland over declining swimming skills among children over recent years, with parents and young people urged to take the plunge to acquire and maintain these basic skills.
Earlier this year the All Points North podcast looked at the issue from the perspective of adults who were learning to swim. You can listen to that episode of the show here.
Finnish skills in schools
Helsingin Sanomat continues the debate about literacy among immigrant-background pupils in Finnish schools by interviewing an IT consultant from an immigrant background who offered some of his personal views on Finnish teaching in schools.
Eyüp Yilmaz went to school in eastern Helsinki and said that the keys to his success in learning Finnish were an enthusiasm for libraries, parental support for school work, and teachers "promoting" him out of the Finnish as a second language stream (commonly referred to as Suomi 2 or S2) at the start of seventh grade.
All students read too little these days, not just immigrant-background ones, according to Yilmaz, who spent hours in the library and read Wikipedia when he was growing up.
That has hurt Finnish scores in the international PISA research, which measures pupils' literacy and numeracy.
Low expectations for immigrant background children are doing them a disservice, according to Yilmaz.
He says students should be held back a year if they are failing, and current grading guidelines mean that rarely happens in Finnish schools.
If that were a risk, parents would be more likely to take an active interest in their children's schooling, according to Yilmaz.
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Winter is coming
Maaseudun Tulevaisuus reports that the weather is set to shift this week, with rain and snow more likely from Wednesday onwards.
On Wednesday, the west will experience heavy rainfall, and significant snowfall is expected in northern Lapland.
Towards the end of the week, things will be unsettled nationwide, with rain and drizzle expected, but temperatures will be higher than usual for the time of year.
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EDIT 9.10.2024: Added a definition of S2.
