Switzerland Today

Hello from Bern,

It’s festival season and that means there’s bound to be an outdoor concert somewhere in Switzerland. This weekend it’s Bern, which is holding the annual Buskers festival. After a two-year Covid hiatus, there’s no holding back apparently with everything from a ski circus to walking swamp monsters and of course lots of music. And as an extra treat – there are apparently “environmentally friendly and odour-free” portable toilets along the streets.

© Keystone / Ennio Leanza

In the News: Dog training for viruses, fishing threatened by the heat, and patient fatalities from a Novartis gene therapy.

• Dogs are being trained in canton Thurgau to detect African swine fever (ASF) in farmed pigs. They should be operational this autumn, which is good news given there’ve been reported outbreaks recently in northern Italy and Germany. While not dangerous to humans, it’s fatal for domestic and wild pigs. An epidemic could wreak havoc on domestic agriculture.
• Fish are dying in record numbers due to the heat, said the Swiss Fishing Association today. Cantons across much of the country are reporting that fish are dying at higher rates this year. Of particular concern are species like trout that need cold water. Three quarters of all native fish species are already endangered, threatened with extinction or already extinct.
• Swiss pharma firm Novartis made headlines today. Two patients died of acute liver failure following treatment with its gene therapy ZolgensmaExternal link, which is used to treat spinal muscular atrophy. The therapy has received a lot of attention as one of the first gene therapies approved by US regulators and the most expensive treatment ever at $2.1 million per patient. The patients were in Russia and Kazakhstan. The company said that this isn’t a new “safety signal” and that it doesn’t change the risk/benefit profile of the treatment.

Patrick Karpiczenko

Karpi is back and this time it’s the oligarchs in the hot seat

There are so many things that make Switzerland special. The mountains, the lakes, the cheese. And, then there are the oligarchs and dictators that have found a way to fit right into a country ironically known to be cold to newcomers according to most expat surveys.

It turns out this “emotional coldness” is an asset for oligarchs who want to enjoy the beautiful views of the Alps and stash money in bank accounts without the locals bothering them. That’s according to Karpi, the satirist and self-proclaimed apologist who travels to Zug or “Little Moscow” in his latest Switzerland Says Sorry satirical video series.

It isn’t just Russian oligarchs though. Switzerland has also been a playground for children of dictators. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un spent his early years in canton Bern.

What else helps make Switzerland such a popular destination for the rich and sometimes infamous? Money can buy you a lot in this country – including a golden visa.

© Keystone / Christian Beutler

School is about to start but where are the teachers

As much as parents look forward to summer holidays, many are very happy to see the school year start again. Next Monday children in 15 cantons go back to school but many parents aren’t feeling the usual sense of relief.

For months, there have been reports about dire teacher shortages. Some cantons have become so desperate that they are hiring people without recognised certificates. “If I, as a mother, found out that my daughter was going to an untrained teacher, I wouldn’t be able to sleep well,” said Dagmar Rösler, a primary school teacher and head of the Federation of Swiss Teachers.

Earlier this week, the association warned that the country was at risk of a decline in teaching quality due to a lack of certified staff. This comes at a time when schools are still trying to make up for lost time during the pandemic. On top of this, some cantons are finding themselves with more students as many Ukrainian children integrate into the local school system.

So, what’s the source of the problems? Teachers are paid pretty well in Switzerland relative to other countries, and there’s all that holiday time. There’s been some intense finger pointingExternal link taking place in the Swiss media. Some politicians blame the cantons for not anticipating the shortages given the number of baby boomers retiring.

Others point to the high hurdles to become a teacher in the country. Teachers though push back and say that wages and working conditions need to be improved. One former teacher interviewedExternal link by the NZZ said that she wanted to focus on teaching but instead was overloaded with administrative tasks and resolving interpersonal conflicts in the classroom.