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Sponsoring of schools.
A school can receive extra money through sponsoring. A company or institution then gives goods, services or money to the school in exchange for a return service. To ensure children are not exposed to unwanted advertising, agreements are fixed in a covenant. In addition, the law also contains rules about advertising at schools.
What is sponsoring
Sponsoring of schools means that schools accept money, goods or services from companies and/or institutions to finance extra school activities and out-of-school activities. For schools it is a chance to offer something extra to students, but it is also a risk of unwanted advertising. To have guidance about what is allowed and what is not, agreements about sponsoring in education are fixed in a covenant.
Pros and cons of sponsoring for the school
Sponsoring can give good support to the school in different ways. Think, for example, of a one-time donation from the local shops for a school fair or a school party. Usually, such a contribution requires almost no return service from students, parents, teachers or the school. The sponsor, for example, is already satisfied with the mention of their name in the school newspaper. Therefore, this form of donation is mostly not seen as problematic. It is different with sponsoring of, for example, one or more classrooms. The sponsor then often expects a good return service such as mentioning the company name everywhere or using certain services.
Legal conditions
Sponsoring at school must meet some legal conditions. Sponsoring can only be accepted with the agreement of the school participation council (article 10, section f of the law). In addition, the sponsoring policy must be mentioned in the school plan and the school guide. Parents must also be clear that they can complain about the sponsoring through the school complaints procedure.
Agreements in the sponsoring covenant
The school can also be expected to consider the so-called ‘Covenant sponsoring‘. This covenant contains rules of conduct about sponsoring in education. It was made by the Ministry of OCW, Ouders & Onderwijs, several education organizations and representatives of the business world. It ties acceptance of sponsorship money to certain conditions. For example, the main activities of the school (the teaching) must not depend on sponsoring money. The education content must not be influenced by sponsoring and the sponsoring must agree with good taste and decency (no misleading texts).
Not agreeing with sponsoring
A covenant is not a law but an agreement, without a penalty if someone does not follow it. In practice, it can still happen that schools and sponsors do not follow the covenant. Parents can then complain about sponsoring through the school complaints procedure.