Call to politics: ensure more equal opportunities in education.

Call to politics: ensure more equal opportunities in education.

On 3 June the House of Representatives debates educational opportunities. In preparation for this debate, Ouders & Onderwijs together with VOO, NCJ, Balans, LAKS, Alliance Against Child Poverty and OCO sent a letter to the House of Representatives. Educational inequality requires targeted, concrete solutions.

Educational inequality starts early 

From preschool to secondary education: differences can arise and grow at different moments during the school career. Think of access to extra activities or digital resources. 

For parents, this means they increasingly have to step in to offer their child the same opportunities as others. But it’s not always possible. This creates inequality between children and also schools. 

Three concrete proposals 

To truly tackle educational inequality, we make three proposals to politics in our letter: 

1. abolish the voluntary parental contribution

The voluntary parental contribution leads to large differences between schools. While one school can offer many extra activities, another school cannot. 

Good education must be accessible to every child, without depending on the parents’ wallet. That is why we again advocate for the complete abolition of the voluntary parental contribution, with structural compensation for schools. 

2. provide a device for every student

Digital learning resources can no longer be imagined without education. Yet parents often have to buy laptops or other devices themselves. 

For families with less financial space, this is a big barrier. The result is that some children cannot participate fully. We believe that digital resources, just like schoolbooks, must be free for all students. 

3. make educational equality part of every school plan

There is not enough attention for educational inequality now. That must change. We advocate that this be structurally recorded in the school plan of every school, including a required part about poverty policy. 

Time for clear choices 

Opportunities for children should never depend on income, background or chance. Yet in practice this still happens too often. That is why we call on politics to take action now on these three proposals, so that educational equality really comes closer.