Second Chamber discusses combination of education and care with cabinet.

Second Chamber discusses combination of education and care with cabinet.

On Wednesday 31 May, the House of Representatives committee for education spoke with Minister Wiersma (education) and State Secretary Van Ooijen (care) about care in education. An important topic was the collective use of care at school. The cabinet wants care for students with care needs at school to be purchased collectively.

Joint Letter To The House Of Representatives

Together with 17 student, parent, and child rights organizations, we wrote a letter to the House of Representatives about the topic. We call on making this possible not only for special education, but for all schools.

Collective Purchase Of Care For All Schools

An important topic was the collective use of care at school. The cabinet wants care for students with care needs at school to be purchased collectively. In the letter, we call for this to be possible not only for special education, but for all schools. This prevents creating a new divide between the different types of education and the possibilities they can offer for care. Custom solutions must remain possible. It may not reduce care at school, because then parents and schools are more burdened than supported. The minister said it remains important that parents are well involved in the care for their child at school. He will come with a letter about the planning and the bill before the summer holiday. 

Education-Care Arrangements 

About 40 educational initiatives now participate in the experiment education-care arrangements. There is room for another 40 participants. The minister indicated to further encourage this participation and also to see if we can broaden the space for participants so more initiatives can use this. Peter Kwint (SP) pointed out that the space can also be used for his ‘rommelpotje’. 

Digital Tools And Residential Education 

Mariëlle Paul (VVD) told about a case of a homebound student who does not get access to digital distance education and therefore cannot get education. Minister Wiersma said he is working on the availability of digital distance education for these students. He will come with an update before the end of the year. On questions about the accessibility of digital learning tools, also for visually impaired people, the minister will come back after the summer. Lisa Westerveld (GroenLinks) asked questions about budgets for education at residential institutions. The spring memorandum seems to cut funding for residential education. The minister said there is no cut and will also inform the House of Representatives further on the topic before the summer.