‘Worrying’ increase in the number of children of compulsory school age not attending school | RTL News

Of this group of children, 5,500 children were at home for more than three months. That is an increase of 74 percent compared to the previous school year. The rest of the children were at home for less than three months.

This is evident from annual figures from the Ministry of Education. Children are required to attend school from the ages of 5 to 16. One of the reasons why the number is increasing is because municipalities are not always successful in arranging education for newcomers.

Exemption

The above figures do not include children who have been given an exemption to go to school. That’s another 8,400 young people. These children cannot go to school because they have psychological or physical problems, for example. That is also an increase compared to previous years.

Emergency bell

The children’s ombudsman of Rotterdam-Rijnmond recently sounded the alarm about this problem. “Since I became children’s ombudsman in 2018, many desperate parents have come to me who have a child who does not go to school. It is a problem that is becoming increasingly worse, which is also reflected in the figures. The children’s ombudsmen in Amsterdam and Den Hague hear the same sounds,” she told RTL News.

Worrying

Outgoing minister Paul also calls the figures worrying. She wants to continue working on tackling absenteeism, she wrote in a letter to the House of Representatives. This gives school attendance officers and schools more options against absenteeism. There are also plans to improve home education.

The House of Representatives will soon debate this subject.