Westland City Council lies in front of an Islamic school
A majority of the Westland municipal council wants to stop the arrival of the Islamic school at all costs. The local parties in the council do not accept an earlier decision by the Council of State and the appeal of education minister Arie Slob to give the school a green light.
Picture: Livestream municipality of Westland
The local parties within the city council, Westland Verstandig, LPF Westland and GemeenteBelang Westland, form a majority in the council and are strongly opposed to the arrival of an Islamic school. Peter Duijsens of Westland Wisely served during the council meeting on 16 July a proposal to appeal as a municipal council against the decision of Minister Slob. Of the 37 votes, 20 were in favor of this proposal.
Last chance
The minister had met with the city council a week earlier summoned to agree to the arrival of the school and abide by the pronounciation of the highest administrative judge. If the council did not do this, Slob himself would be forced to intervene so that the school can still start. "This is a last chance for the city council, otherwise I will have to make a decision myself on behalf of the city council so that the school can start," said Slob.
Minister Arie Slob: 'This is a last chance for the city council'
Pay for
The Yunus Emre school foundation already wants to For a while opening a new Islamic primary school in Westland. The foundation currently has four other schools in The Hague. Initially State Secretary of Education Sander Dekker (VVD) and later Minister Slob (ChristenUnie) held back the foundation because they felt that there would be too little interest in the school. Several legal proceedings followed until the end of April the Council of State pronunciation did and decided that the education minister should indeed pay for the school and that the school may therefore be located in the Westland.
I strongly object to the way in which we oppress the minority with the majority and will oppose this
Suppress
The council members of the national parties, such as GroenLinks, PvdA, CDA and D66, had great difficulty with the position and decision of the local parties. Council member Benjamin Hofland (D66) said: 'We live in a country where various classical fundamental rights were established in 1848. One of them is freedom of religion. I strongly object to the way in which we oppress the minority with the majority and will oppose this.' The council member for the CDA, Jenny Vermeer-de Smit, joined Hofland. 'If you want to establish a school, you can rely on the available resources. It doesn't matter that it is an Islamic school. Limiting the possibilities of minorities leads to a society where the power of the strongest prevails.' The VVD said that the party is for public schools, but once a decision has been made by the Council of State, there is no longer a choice to vote down the school's application.
Minister Slob will now still have to implement his measure of 'substitution'. He then takes a decision before the municipal council. The Islamic school will then be eligible for funding from 1 August 2020.
