Practical political lessons in the town hall

First-hand political lessons were given in a vivid and child-friendly way. First, they visited Mayor Michael Gerdhenrich, who talked about his path to the mayor's office, among other things. Voting from the age of 14? New equipment in playgrounds? Wild rubbish? The children asked many questions, asked for their opinions and explained where they saw a need for action. The head of administration did not fail to answer any of them.

He made it clear that the city council cannot always exert influence, for example on the establishment of a toy shop in the city centre. And the city is not always responsible, for example, for the construction of the new bypass, for which the state organisation Straßen.NRW is responsible.

At the citizens' office, the children learnt about everything that can be done there.

The class then travelled from the upper floor to the ground floor. In the citizens' office, Lisett Ramos de Sonnenburg and Mareike Berkhoff told them all the things they can do there: for example, apply for a new passport, search for a lost item in the lost property office or apply for a youth fishing licence.

It was just as exciting in the wedding room of the registry office. Among other things, Vahide Schütz and Kornelia Jürgens-Bohmert showed the children a 110-year-old birth register in Sütterlin script. They also explained how a wedding ceremony works and where couples can get married in Beckum.

There was even applause for the employees at the end, and the pupils learnt a lot of new things during the lesson outside of school.