Zeeuws-Flemish Zwin College is sounding an emergency bell
The Zwin College in Oostburg is sounding the alarm. If the Zeeland secondary school does not receive more money soon, the school can only remain open for the next school year. Student shrinkage causes financial problems. General manager / director Frank Neefs: “The school has to remain intact, you don't want students to have to travel for two hours to get to school.”
The Zwin College is a broad school community that offers pre-vocational secondary education up to and including pre-university education and has 862 students. Because the school offers many different levels for few students, education is expensive. Neefs: "I don't get to VWO because of the small groups."
Petition
The chance that the school will collapse has not gone unnoticed. On 15 August, the parent section of the participation council held an action meeting that attracted more than three hundred people. A petition has also been started to keep the school for West Zeeuws-Vlaanderen.
“Financially we can continue for one more school year,” says Neefs. After that, the government will have to step in to be able to pay for everything, according to the general manager. “A plan had been made for this, only in June it turned out that State Secretary Dekker wanted to adhere to the normal funding system and pay per student. That means: no extra money. ”
I would have preferred to work together three years ago, but then you need all four schools in Zeeuws-Vlaanderen. We should have done that long ago.
Structural solution
Outgoing State Secretary Dekker of Education wrote in a letter to Parliament that school boards themselves must intervene in good time if they are faced with falling student numbers. Dekker believes that school boards should merge or cooperate or make a choice in the range of courses on offer. He therefore does not agree with the plan to give extra money to the Zwin College. "It does not meet my requirement to come up with a structural solution within the current financial framework," writes Dekker. Moreover, he wants a plan in which all secondary schools in Zeeuws-Vlaanderen are involved.
Become a Partner
Director Neefs is pleased with cooperation. “I would have liked to do that three years ago, but then you need all four schools in Zeeuws-Vlaanderen. We should have done that for a long time. ” All four secondary school boards have set up a new task force to look at the preservation of the schools and what needs to be done for that. “We have already looked at many options,” says Neefs. “But if it can be done with the same money, I would like to hear it. It is nice that all school boards are participating again. I especially hope that reason will prevail among policymakers. ”
AObdistrict manager Jan Menger is aware of the situation. “I receive emails from concerned teachers,” says Menger. “They are concerned about the workload and the low number of students. They want money to be added to ensure that education continues to exist, but the boards have to cooperate or merge much better. There are too few students, that is the reality. ”
