Tackle the (too) long travel time.

Tackle the (too) long travel time.

Ouders & Onderwijs thinks the long travel time for children in special education must be tackled. Our director Lobke Vlaming called for this yesterday in several media, including Radio-1-Journaal, Hart van Nederland and NOS-Jeugdjournaal. 'There are many complaints and we get signals about this from all over the country,' said Vlaming.

‘When I get home I am very tired and prefer not to talk to my parents,’ says Kolcho in the NOS-Jeugdjournaal. He travels almost an hour to get home from school. He goes to special education and really enjoys it there. But that annoying travel time.

Taxibus

Children in group 8 spend an average of two hours a week traveling. For children in special education, it is different. They spend up to 16 hours a week traveling. The reason for this long time is that some students are picked up first and the taxibus has to take a long detour to pick up other children.

Serious

Lobke Vlaming finds this situation serious. ‘A plan is made and if you are unlucky to be first, you have to take the whole trip.’ This is not suitable for these students, says Vlaming. ‘These children are not in special education for no reason. They need extra care and support. They are extra vulnerable and spend one and a half hours a day in that bus.’

Steps

This situation is no longer acceptable. There are a few concrete steps to take. Some possibilities:

• Regular education is often close to home. Make sure more children can go to regular education by providing specialist support there.
• Reduce the distance between regular education and special education. For example, by sharing specialist knowledge.
• Make clear rules for the carriers. For example, ensure better pedagogical skills among the staff.
• Ensure the standard of 90 minutes goes back to 45 minutes.

Ouders & Onderwijs continues to strongly work for changes in the short term. Hopefully, politics sees opportunities to address this soon.

What can you do as a parent?

If you notice your child spends too long traveling, what can you do? The municipality is responsible for student transport and outsources this to a carrier. How this is arranged differs per municipality.

• Check how it is arranged in your municipality. This is in the student transport regulation.
• If the execution does not fit the regulation (for example, the travel time is longer than agreed) or the transport is poorly executed, you can file a complaint with the carrier and/or municipality.
• If your child suffers a lot from the student transport, raise this at school or with the social district team of the municipality to find a solution together.
• Report your complaint or concerns to the Social Council of the municipality.
• Send your concerns and issues to the municipal council. Try to do this together with other parents. This has more impact.
• For questions and advice you can contact our information point.

Learn more

Do you want to know more? You can watch all media coverage via the links at the bottom of our news article about this. For questions you can call our Information Point at telephone number 088-6050101. You can also send an email to vraag@oudersenonderwijs.nl