Education Council: ‘Do not cut back on education’

Education Council: ‘Do not cut back on education’

 

 

It will probably be some time before a new cabinet is in place, but the Education Council is already writing a letter (in Dutch). ‘Education is too important to shift the focus in education policy or choose a new course with each new cabinet’, it says. They also ask the government to improve education, not make cuts and do something about unequal opportunities.

 

According to the letter, the ‘three most pressing and urgent problems’ in education are teacher shortages, declining educational achievement in language, numeracy and mathematics and, finally, inequality of opportunity and social segregation in education.

 

It is ‘unacceptable’ that young people leave education without being able to read, count and write properly, the council believes. Which advocates ‘sustainable improvement of language and numeracy/mathematics education, from primary to higher education’. ‘Our education system contributes to inequality of opportunity,’ the letter also states. ‘Whether pupils and students can get a good education that suits them depends partly on the education their parents received and their wallets.’ (HOP, BB)