Amsterdam opposes cuts to education

According to Councillor Simone Kukenheim (Education) proposed austerity hits 100 million of the most vulnerable children. Kukenheim ". They have to come from far if we do not tackle early arrears, that's very intense."

The Lower House debate Thursday on the cut of Sander Dekker Secretary of Education. Kukenheim has with her colleagues in Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht sent a letter to the Lower House, in which she her displeasure. Councillors also 32 smaller municipalities signed the letter.

Painful savings
Saving is EUR 50 million on the sign of the big cities, also goes another ten million from large to small municipalities. This allows Amsterdam approximately three thousand children from 2.5 to four years no longer a school, and that is particularly important for getting rid of language deficiencies at an early age.

The municipality can invest less in the personnel at the pre-school. "Very painful all," Kukenheim says. "We can help fewer children."

Fire Letter
Schools should also cut back, a total of 50 million. Amsterdam schools also sent an urgent letter to the Lower House, said Jan Hus of BBO, the association of school boards in Amsterdam. "Through these measures, we get fewer hands in the classroom," says Huss. And those extra hands are needed precisely to accompany children with language delays.

(All very painful. We can help fewer children.

Councillor Kukenheim)

According to State Secretary Dekker have church schools and less money is needed because the number of students decreases with lower educated parents. The parents' level of education determines the amount of money schools receive guidance.

Accumulation of problems
Kukenheim Dekker thinks the bar very low puts: If parents more than three years have completed secondary education, schools receive no additional money for the guidance of their children. She argues that the arrears just rising in the classroom. Not only training but also income and parental origin play a role, as does the question of whether Dutch is spoken at home or not.

"It is an accumulation of problems," says Kukenheim. "Poverty also plays a role, especially now we've just come out of an economic crisis. That has an effect on the environment in which children grow up."

Big cities are facing an influx of highly educated refugees from Syria, for example, and secondary-educated migrants from Eastern Europe. On paper, their children do not need guidance, speaking in practice that hardly Dutch when they get to school.

http://www.parool.nl/  By: Michiel COUZY Photo: Simone Kukenheim