Raron
Encyclopedia
Raron is a municipality
in the district of Raron
in the canton
of Valais
in Switzerland
.
A settlement on the Heidnischbiel, a burial ground at Blatt and scattered finds in the surrounding vineyards indicate that there was a permanent settlement in the vicinity of Raron from the Neolithic
to the La Tène period
. The settlement seems to have been abandoned in the Roman era
.
During the Middle Ages
, the hill west of the Heidnischbiel, was fortified. In the 12th century the Viztum of Raron was established and the Viztume tower house
was added to the hill. The tower The families of Raron, Asperlin and de Chevron-Villette all held the office of Vizedominat of Raron as a fief from the Bishop of Sion. During the Raron affair
of 1417, the tower was partially destroyed. It was purchased in 1538 by the municipality and then served as city hall and a jail. At the beginning of the 21st Century it was privately owned. In addition, to the Viztume tower, the Meier tower was built in the 13th century. The Meier tower was mostly occupied by the Asperlin family. Raron was important in local politics and held the title Raronia prudens. One bishop and several provincial governors all came from Raron.
The center of the local parish
was, most likely, originally St. German. The church of St. German existed since about the 8th or 9th centuries. By 1299, the church in Raron had become a parish church
. This large parish comprised the four municipalities of the middle third of the Zenden of Raron. In 1554, Unterbäch and Bürchen separated from the parish and in 1867 Ausserberg left as well. The entire Church of St. Romanus, except the tower, was destroyed in 1494 when the Bietschbach flooded. The tower of the church remained until 1938, when it was demolished. The uninhabited Meier tower was converted into a gothic
church by Ulrich Ruffiner in 1508-14. In the early 16th century, this castle church was dedicated to St. Romanus to replace the earlier church. The restored castle church was abandoned in the 1970s and was replaced in 1974 a modern rock church which was built at the foot of the hill.
The big stone houses of Raron testify to the prosperity of the 17th and 18th centuries. These historic houses include the Maxenhaus, the Zentriegenhaus, the Zmilacherhaus and houses of the von Roten family as well as the Kalbermatterhaus in Turtig and the tower house in Rotigoblatt. Traffic through Raron over the St. German pass to Visp contributed to the prosperity of the town. However, the construction of the valley road to the left side of the valley in the 19th century, deprived Raron of this source of revenue. Due to the containment of the Rhone and Bietschbach rivers, the draining of the swamps in 1865-85 and the construction of the Lonza Entsumpfungs canal in 1920, the valley opened up for agriculture.
Raron evolved in the second half of the 20th century into a modern industrial and small business town. Residential and commercial buildings spread out across the valley floor. In the 1940s a military airfield was built in the valley, but it was abandoned in the army reform of 1994. In 1980, Air Zermatt opened a helicopter base in Raron. In 2007, the south portal of the Lötschberg Base Tunnel
opened to the east of the village. has become culturally aware through regular performances of mystery and passion plays. In 2000 more than 60% of the working population worked outside of the municipality, especially in Visp, Brig and Steg.
Raron is known for periodic passion
and mysteries plays.
The municipality is the capital of the Westlich Raron district. It includes the villages of Raron and Sankt German and the hamlets
of Turtig and Rarnerchumma. It is located on the right side of the Rhone
valley at the entrance to the Bietsch valley and west of Visp
.
of the municipal coat of arms
is Raron Gules, a Vine eradicated and fructed Or leaved Vert.
Most of the population speaks German
(1,534 or 91.7%) as their first language, Albanian
is the second most common (48 or 2.9%) and French
is the third (34 or 2.0%). There are 18 people who speak Italian
and 1 person who speaks Romansh.
, the population was 50.9% male and 49.1% female. The population was made up of 804 Swiss men (44.6% of the population) and 112 (6.2%) non-Swiss men. There were 799 Swiss women (44.4%) and 86 (4.8%) non-Swiss women. Of the population in the municipality, 849 or about 50.8% were born in Raron and lived there in 2000. There were 468 or 28.0% who were born in the same canton, while 138 or 8.3% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 170 or 10.2% were born outside of Switzerland.
, children and teenagers (0-19 years old) make up 25% of the population, while adults (20-64 years old) make up 61.4% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 13.6%.
, there were 643 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 904 married individuals, 77 widows or widowers and 48 individuals who are divorced.
, there were 636 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.6 persons per household. There were 145 households that consist of only one person and 53 households with five or more people. , a total of 593 apartments (83.4% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 91 apartments (12.8%) were seasonally occupied and 27 apartments (3.8%) were empty. , the construction rate of new housing units was 0.6 new units per 1000 residents. The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 2.49%.
The historical population is given in the following chart:
and the Viztume tower house are listed as Swiss heritage site of national significance
. The entire village of Raron, the hamlet of Rarner Chumma and the Turtig/Wandfluh region are all part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites
.
the most popular party was the CVP
which received 69.03% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SVP
(13.56%), the SP
(12.87%) and the Green Party
(2.83%). In the federal election, a total of 862 votes were cast, and the voter turnout
was 65.9%.
In the 2009 Conseil d'Etat/Staatsrat
election a total of 785 votes were cast, of which 91 or about 11.6% were invalid. The voter participation was 61.7%, which is much more than the cantonal average of 54.67%. In the 2007 Swiss Council of States election
election a total of 859 votes were cast, of which 31 or about 3.6% were invalid. The voter participation was 66.2%, which is much more than the cantonal average of 59.88%.
the total number of full-time equivalent
jobs was 655. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 34, of which 28 were in agriculture and 5 were in forestry or lumber production. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 426 of which 151 or (35.4%) were in manufacturing, 2 or (0.5%) were in mining and 273 (64.1%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 195. In the tertiary sector; 37 or 19.0% were in the sale or repair of motor vehicles, 41 or 21.0% were in the movement and storage of goods, 39 or 20.0% were in a hotel or restaurant, 11 or 5.6% were the insurance or financial industry, 20 or 10.3% were technical professionals or scientists, 26 or 13.3% were in education and 1 was in health care.
, there were 325 workers who commuted into the municipality and 509 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 1.6 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering. About 8.6% of the workforce coming into Raron are coming from outside Switzerland. Of the working population, 22.3% used public transportation to get to work, and 55.1% used a private car.
. Of the rest of the population, there were 8 members of an Orthodox church
(or about 0.48% of the population), and there were 10 individuals (or about 0.60% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 78 (or about 4.67% of the population) who were Islam
ic. There was 1 person who was Buddhist
. 31 (or about 1.85% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic
or atheist
, and 58 individuals (or about 3.47% of the population) did not answer the question.
). Of the 118 who completed tertiary schooling, 80.5% were Swiss men, 10.2% were Swiss women, 6.8% were non-Swiss men.
During the 2010-2011 school year there were a total of 289 students in the Raron school system. The education system
in the Canton of Valais allows young children to attend one year of non-obligatory Kindergarten
. During that school year, there 2 kindergarten classes (KG1 or KG2) and 37 kindergarten students. The canton's school system requires students to attend six years of primary school. In Raron there were a total of 9 classes and 167 students in the primary school. The secondary school
program consists of three lower, obligatory years of schooling (orientation classes), followed by three to five years of optional, advanced schools. There were 122 lower secondary students who attended school in Raron. All the upper secondary students attended school in another municipality.
, there were 55 students in Raron who came from another municipality, while 71 residents attended schools outside the municipality.
is buried in the cemetery of the old church there.
Municipalities of Switzerland
Communes , also known as municipalities, are the smallest government division in Switzerland, numbering 2,596 . While many have a population of a few hundred citizens, the largest cities such as Zürich or Geneva also have the legal status of municipalities...
in the district of Raron
Raron (district)
The district of Raron was one of the 12 districts comprising the Republic of Wallis and after 1848 the canton of Valais in Switzerland. Today it is divided into two demi-districts, which are geographically separated by the District of Brig....
in the canton
Cantons of Switzerland
The 26 cantons of Switzerland are the member states of the federal state of Switzerland. Each canton was a fully sovereign state with its own borders, army and currency from the Treaty of Westphalia until the establishment of the Swiss federal state in 1848...
of Valais
Valais
The Valais is one of the 26 cantons of Switzerland in the southwestern part of the country, around the valley of the Rhône from its headwaters to Lake Geneva, separating the Pennine Alps from the Bernese Alps. The canton is one of the drier parts of Switzerland in its central Rhône valley...
in Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
.
History
Raron is first mentioned around 1101-1200 as Rarogni. In 1146 it was mentioned as Rarun.A settlement on the Heidnischbiel, a burial ground at Blatt and scattered finds in the surrounding vineyards indicate that there was a permanent settlement in the vicinity of Raron from the Neolithic
Neolithic
The Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BC in some parts of the Middle East, and later in other parts of the world. It is traditionally considered as the last part of the Stone Age...
to the La Tène period
La Tène culture
The La Tène culture was a European Iron Age culture named after the archaeological site of La Tène on the north side of Lake Neuchâtel in Switzerland, where a rich cache of artifacts was discovered by Hansli Kopp in 1857....
. The settlement seems to have been abandoned in the Roman era
Switzerland in the Roman era
The history of Switzerland in the Roman era encompasses the roughly six centuries during which the territory of modern Switzerland was a part of the Roman Republic and Empire...
.
During the Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
, the hill west of the Heidnischbiel, was fortified. In the 12th century the Viztum of Raron was established and the Viztume tower house
Tower house
A tower house is a particular type of stone structure, built for defensive purposes as well as habitation.-History:Tower houses began to appear in the Middle Ages, especially in mountain or limited access areas, in order to command and defend strategic points with reduced forces...
was added to the hill. The tower The families of Raron, Asperlin and de Chevron-Villette all held the office of Vizedominat of Raron as a fief from the Bishop of Sion. During the Raron affair
Raron affair
The Raron affair was a 15th Century rebellion in the Valais region against the power of a local noble family, the Raron family. The rebellion brought several cantons of the Swiss Confederation into conflict with each other and threatened a civil war in the Confederation...
of 1417, the tower was partially destroyed. It was purchased in 1538 by the municipality and then served as city hall and a jail. At the beginning of the 21st Century it was privately owned. In addition, to the Viztume tower, the Meier tower was built in the 13th century. The Meier tower was mostly occupied by the Asperlin family. Raron was important in local politics and held the title Raronia prudens. One bishop and several provincial governors all came from Raron.
The center of the local parish
Parish
A parish is a territorial unit historically under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of one parish priest, who might be assisted in his pastoral duties by a curate or curates - also priests but not the parish priest - from a more or less central parish church with its associated organization...
was, most likely, originally St. German. The church of St. German existed since about the 8th or 9th centuries. By 1299, the church in Raron had become a parish church
Parish church
A parish church , in Christianity, is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish, the basic administrative unit of episcopal churches....
. This large parish comprised the four municipalities of the middle third of the Zenden of Raron. In 1554, Unterbäch and Bürchen separated from the parish and in 1867 Ausserberg left as well. The entire Church of St. Romanus, except the tower, was destroyed in 1494 when the Bietschbach flooded. The tower of the church remained until 1938, when it was demolished. The uninhabited Meier tower was converted into a gothic
Gothic architecture
Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....
church by Ulrich Ruffiner in 1508-14. In the early 16th century, this castle church was dedicated to St. Romanus to replace the earlier church. The restored castle church was abandoned in the 1970s and was replaced in 1974 a modern rock church which was built at the foot of the hill.
The big stone houses of Raron testify to the prosperity of the 17th and 18th centuries. These historic houses include the Maxenhaus, the Zentriegenhaus, the Zmilacherhaus and houses of the von Roten family as well as the Kalbermatterhaus in Turtig and the tower house in Rotigoblatt. Traffic through Raron over the St. German pass to Visp contributed to the prosperity of the town. However, the construction of the valley road to the left side of the valley in the 19th century, deprived Raron of this source of revenue. Due to the containment of the Rhone and Bietschbach rivers, the draining of the swamps in 1865-85 and the construction of the Lonza Entsumpfungs canal in 1920, the valley opened up for agriculture.
Raron evolved in the second half of the 20th century into a modern industrial and small business town. Residential and commercial buildings spread out across the valley floor. In the 1940s a military airfield was built in the valley, but it was abandoned in the army reform of 1994. In 1980, Air Zermatt opened a helicopter base in Raron. In 2007, the south portal of the Lötschberg Base Tunnel
Lötschberg Base Tunnel
The Lötschberg Base Tunnel is a railway tunnel on the BLS Lötschbergbahn's Lötschberg Line cutting through the Alps of Switzerland some below the existing Lötschberg Tunnel. It is currently the world's longest land tunnel and accommodates passenger and freight trains. It runs between Frutigen,...
opened to the east of the village. has become culturally aware through regular performances of mystery and passion plays. In 2000 more than 60% of the working population worked outside of the municipality, especially in Visp, Brig and Steg.
Raron is known for periodic passion
Passion play
A Passion play is a dramatic presentation depicting the Passion of Jesus Christ: his trial, suffering and death. It is a traditional part of Lent in several Christian denominations, particularly in Catholic tradition....
and mysteries plays.
Geography
Raron has an area, , of 30.3 square kilometre. Of this area, 15.5% is used for agricultural purposes, while 19.0% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 4.8% is settled (buildings or roads) and 60.7% is unproductive land.The municipality is the capital of the Westlich Raron district. It includes the villages of Raron and Sankt German and the hamlets
Hamlet (place)
A hamlet is usually a rural settlement which is too small to be considered a village, though sometimes the word is used for a different sort of community. Historically, when a hamlet became large enough to justify building a church, it was then classified as a village...
of Turtig and Rarnerchumma. It is located on the right side of the Rhone
Rhône
Rhone can refer to:* Rhone, one of the major rivers of Europe, running through Switzerland and France* Rhône Glacier, the source of the Rhone River and one of the primary contributors to Lake Geneva in the far eastern end of the canton of Valais in Switzerland...
valley at the entrance to the Bietsch valley and west of Visp
Visp
Visp is the capital of the district of Visp in the canton of Valais in Switzerland.-Geography:Visp has an area, , of . Of this area, 17.0% is used for agricultural purposes, while 59.7% is forested...
.
Coat of arms
The blazonBlazon
In heraldry and heraldic vexillology, a blazon is a formal description of a coat of arms, flag or similar emblem, from which the reader can reconstruct the appropriate image...
of the municipal coat of arms
Coat of arms
A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...
is Raron Gules, a Vine eradicated and fructed Or leaved Vert.
Demographics
Raron has a population of . , 12.4% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (2000–2010) the population has changed at a rate of 2.5%. It has changed at a rate of 4.2% due to migration and at a rate of 3.5% due to births and deaths.Most of the population speaks German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
(1,534 or 91.7%) as their first language, Albanian
Albanian language
Albanian is an Indo-European language spoken by approximately 7.6 million people, primarily in Albania and Kosovo but also in other areas of the Balkans in which there is an Albanian population, including western Macedonia, southern Montenegro, southern Serbia and northwestern Greece...
is the second most common (48 or 2.9%) and French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
is the third (34 or 2.0%). There are 18 people who speak Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
and 1 person who speaks Romansh.
, the population was 50.9% male and 49.1% female. The population was made up of 804 Swiss men (44.6% of the population) and 112 (6.2%) non-Swiss men. There were 799 Swiss women (44.4%) and 86 (4.8%) non-Swiss women. Of the population in the municipality, 849 or about 50.8% were born in Raron and lived there in 2000. There were 468 or 28.0% who were born in the same canton, while 138 or 8.3% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 170 or 10.2% were born outside of Switzerland.
, children and teenagers (0-19 years old) make up 25% of the population, while adults (20-64 years old) make up 61.4% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 13.6%.
, there were 643 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 904 married individuals, 77 widows or widowers and 48 individuals who are divorced.
, there were 636 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.6 persons per household. There were 145 households that consist of only one person and 53 households with five or more people. , a total of 593 apartments (83.4% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 91 apartments (12.8%) were seasonally occupied and 27 apartments (3.8%) were empty. , the construction rate of new housing units was 0.6 new units per 1000 residents. The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 2.49%.
The historical population is given in the following chart:
Heritage sites of national significance
The prehistoric site or Heidnischbühl, the Church of St. Roman with old RectoryRectory
A rectory is the residence, or former residence, of a rector, most often a Christian cleric, but in some cases an academic rector or other person with that title...
and the Viztume tower house are listed as Swiss heritage site of national significance
Swiss Inventory of Cultural Property of National and Regional Significance
The Swiss Inventory of Cultural Property of National and Regional Significance is a register of some 8,300 items of cultural property in Switzerland...
. The entire village of Raron, the hamlet of Rarner Chumma and the Turtig/Wandfluh region are all part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites
Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites
The Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites is part of a 1981 Ordinance of the Swiss Federal Council implementing the Federal Law on the Protection of Nature and Cultural Heritage.-Sites of national importance:-Types:...
.
Politics
In the 2007 federal electionSwiss federal election, 2007
Elections to the Swiss Federal Assembly, the federal parliament of Switzerland, were held on Sunday, 21 October 2007. In a few cantons, a second round of the elections to the Council of States was held on 11 November, 18 November, and 25 November 2007...
the most popular party was the CVP
Christian Democratic People's Party of Switzerland
The Christian Democratic People's Party of Switzerland is a Christian democratic political party in Switzerland. It is the fourth-largest party in the National Council, with 31 seats, and the largest in the Council of States, with 15 seats. It has one seat, that of Doris Leuthard, on the Swiss...
which received 69.03% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SVP
Swiss People's Party
The Swiss People's Party , also known as the Democratic Union of the Centre , is a conservative political party in Switzerland. Chaired by Toni Brunner, but spearheaded by Christoph Blocher, the party is the largest party in the Federal Assembly, with 58 members of the National Council and 6 of...
(13.56%), the SP
Social Democratic Party of Switzerland
The Social Democratic Party of Switzerland is the largest centre-left political party in Switzerland....
(12.87%) and the Green Party
Green Party of Switzerland
The Green Party of Switzerland is the fifth-largest party in the National Council of Switzerland, and the largest party that is not represented on the Federal Council.-History:...
(2.83%). In the federal election, a total of 862 votes were cast, and the voter turnout
Voter turnout
Voter turnout is the percentage of eligible voters who cast a ballot in an election . After increasing for many decades, there has been a trend of decreasing voter turnout in most established democracies since the 1960s...
was 65.9%.
In the 2009 Conseil d'Etat/Staatsrat
Conseil d'Etat (Switzerland)
In Switzerland, Conseil d'Etat is the name of the council constituting the cantonal government of French-speaking cantons. It is not to be confused with the Conseil des États which is a chamber of the Swiss parliament....
election a total of 785 votes were cast, of which 91 or about 11.6% were invalid. The voter participation was 61.7%, which is much more than the cantonal average of 54.67%. In the 2007 Swiss Council of States election
Swiss Council of States election, 2007
Elections were held to the Council of States of Switzerland in October and November 2007 as part of the 2007 federal election. All 46 members of the Council of States were elected from all cantons of Switzerland. The first round was held on 21 October...
election a total of 859 votes were cast, of which 31 or about 3.6% were invalid. The voter participation was 66.2%, which is much more than the cantonal average of 59.88%.
Economy
, Raron had an unemployment rate of 1.7%. , there were 76 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 31 businesses involved in this sector. 442 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 23 businesses in this sector. 254 people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 57 businesses in this sector. There were 810 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 36.7% of the workforce.the total number of full-time equivalent
Full-time equivalent
Full-time equivalent , is a unit to measure employed persons or students in a way that makes them comparable although they may work or study a different number of hours per week. FTE is often used to measure a worker's involvement in a project, or to track cost reductions in an organization...
jobs was 655. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 34, of which 28 were in agriculture and 5 were in forestry or lumber production. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 426 of which 151 or (35.4%) were in manufacturing, 2 or (0.5%) were in mining and 273 (64.1%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 195. In the tertiary sector; 37 or 19.0% were in the sale or repair of motor vehicles, 41 or 21.0% were in the movement and storage of goods, 39 or 20.0% were in a hotel or restaurant, 11 or 5.6% were the insurance or financial industry, 20 or 10.3% were technical professionals or scientists, 26 or 13.3% were in education and 1 was in health care.
, there were 325 workers who commuted into the municipality and 509 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 1.6 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering. About 8.6% of the workforce coming into Raron are coming from outside Switzerland. Of the working population, 22.3% used public transportation to get to work, and 55.1% used a private car.
Religion
From the , 1,435 or 85.8% were Roman Catholic, while 56 or 3.3% belonged to the Swiss Reformed ChurchSwiss Reformed Church
The Reformed branch of Protestantism in Switzerland was started in Zürich by Huldrych Zwingli and spread within a few years to Basel , Bern , St...
. Of the rest of the population, there were 8 members of an Orthodox church
Orthodox Christianity
The term Orthodox Christianity may refer to:* the Eastern Orthodox Church and its various geographical subdivisions...
(or about 0.48% of the population), and there were 10 individuals (or about 0.60% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 78 (or about 4.67% of the population) who were Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
ic. There was 1 person who was Buddhist
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
. 31 (or about 1.85% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic
Agnosticism
Agnosticism is the view that the truth value of certain claims—especially claims about the existence or non-existence of any deity, but also other religious and metaphysical claims—is unknown or unknowable....
or atheist
Atheism
Atheism is, in a broad sense, the rejection of belief in the existence of deities. In a narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities...
, and 58 individuals (or about 3.47% of the population) did not answer the question.
Education
In Raron about 647 or (38.7%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 118 or (7.1%) have completed additional higher education (either university or a FachhochschuleFachhochschule
A Fachhochschule or University of Applied Sciences is a German type of tertiary education institution, sometimes specialized in certain topical areas . Fachhochschulen were founded in Germany and later adopted by Austria, Liechtenstein, Switzerland and Greece...
). Of the 118 who completed tertiary schooling, 80.5% were Swiss men, 10.2% were Swiss women, 6.8% were non-Swiss men.
During the 2010-2011 school year there were a total of 289 students in the Raron school system. The education system
Education in Switzerland
The education system in Switzerland is very diverse, because the constitution of Switzerland delegates the authority for the school system mainly to the cantons...
in the Canton of Valais allows young children to attend one year of non-obligatory Kindergarten
Kindergarten
A kindergarten is a preschool educational institution for children. The term was created by Friedrich Fröbel for the play and activity institute that he created in 1837 in Bad Blankenburg as a social experience for children for their transition from home to school...
. During that school year, there 2 kindergarten classes (KG1 or KG2) and 37 kindergarten students. The canton's school system requires students to attend six years of primary school. In Raron there were a total of 9 classes and 167 students in the primary school. The secondary school
Secondary school
Secondary school is a term used to describe an educational institution where the final stage of schooling, known as secondary education and usually compulsory up to a specified age, takes place...
program consists of three lower, obligatory years of schooling (orientation classes), followed by three to five years of optional, advanced schools. There were 122 lower secondary students who attended school in Raron. All the upper secondary students attended school in another municipality.
, there were 55 students in Raron who came from another municipality, while 71 residents attended schools outside the municipality.
Notable residents
The poet Rainer Maria RilkeRainer Maria Rilke
René Karl Wilhelm Johann Josef Maria Rilke , better known as Rainer Maria Rilke, was a Bohemian–Austrian poet. He is considered one of the most significant poets in the German language...
is buried in the cemetery of the old church there.