“Together, we are celebrating the fact that it is increasingly possible to be yourself at school. I want everyone to feel safe in the classroom, whoever you are and whoever you love,” said Minister for Emancipation Van Engelshoven.
The education boat is open to anyone who contributes to a safe environment at school and would like to celebrate diversity in education during the Canal Parade. Dozens of responses from teachers, pupils and students came in following the ministry’s call to join the parade.
Unfortunately, it is still not a matter of course that everyone can be themselves freely and safely in education. For example, the SCP monitor published at the end of 2018 showed that transgender young people are bullied twice as often as their peers—20% compared with 10%, respectively. In addition, one in five pupils in secondary education believes that their school is not safe enough to come out openly. Half of the pupils believe that this is possible at school. LGBTQ students still feel less safe than other young people, although the difference has never been this small: among lesbian girls, the figures are 86 percent versus 97 percent, and among gay boys, 95 percent versus 99 percent.
Minister Van Engelshoven: “Although we can see that the figures are moving in the right direction, we may only be satisfied when school is a safe environment for everyone. We must continue working towards that. With our own education boat during the Canal Parade, we are celebrating diversity in education and emphasising the importance of a safe classroom for everyone.”