DistantNews
Support us
🇧🇪 Belgium /Elections & Politics

Zuhal Demir defends rapid education reforms: “You cannot ignore the decline in education quality”

From VRT NWS · () Dutch

Translated from Dutch and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources New plan
  • Belgian Education Minister Zuhal Demir defended the speed of her planned reforms despite criticism from teachers and school directors.
  • Demir said declining performance in international and Flemish tests required action, while acknowledging that teachers must help implement the changes.
  • A prominent measure is the creation of language-support classes for children who do not know enough Dutch, with a broader education pact targeted by the end of the year.

Zuhal Demir is entering the new school year with a clear message to her critics: the reforms should move faster, not slower. “Education reforms cannot move fast enough,” the Flemish education minister said before several of her measures take effect.

Education reforms cannot move fast enough.

— Zuhal DemirThe education minister defended the speed of reforms before the new school year.

Teachers and school directors have criticized the pace. A recent survey gave Demir’s policies a failing grade among teachers, while directors warned that schools were being asked to change too quickly. Demir acknowledged that she may have pressed “a little hard on the accelerator,” but said the decline in results over the past 20 years left her with limited room to wait.

“Ultimately, this is about our children. It is about their future. I think you cannot move fast enough in that case,” Demir said in an interview with VRT NWS. She also stressed that she remains responsible for the education system and will need the wider education sector to carry out the plans.

You cannot ignore the decline in education quality.

— Zuhal DemirDemir argued that falling results require the government to act.

One visible reform involves language-support classes for children who have insufficient Dutch. Schools can pool resources to organize the classes jointly instead of creating one in every school. Demir said the arrangement would prevent children who speak little or no Dutch from being placed directly into ordinary lessons without support. Such a situation, she said, isolates the child and creates difficulties for classmates and teachers.

Ultimately, this is about our children. It is about their future. I think you cannot move fast enough in that case.

— Zuhal DemirShe explained why she rejects calls to slow the reforms.

The classes have already started in several urban areas, including Roeselare, Menen, Sint-Niklaas, Antwerp and Genk, according to Demir. She said schools would have five years to adapt to a knowledge-rich curriculum and that the government would review what works, making adjustments if necessary. A major challenge ahead is an education pact, which she wants to agree with unions and education organizations by the end of the year.

It is essentially unthinkable to put a child who knows no Dutch at all into a lesson and say, ‘Go ahead.’

— Zuhal DemirShe justified intensive Dutch-language classes for pupils who need additional support.
About this summary

Originally published by VRT NWS in Dutch. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

More Stories

From Our Blog