The Netherlands is going through difficult times. The pandemic we are facing is demanding a great deal from our society – demanding a great deal from our people! At the front line, healthcare professionals, emergency responders, and the police are working day and night to keep the Netherlands running. Schools, childcare centers, parents, and children are also doing their part to ensure that they can continue their work for the Netherlands, while safeguarding the continuity of education for our children. We are doing this together!
To thank everyone in education for their tremendous efforts, the collaborating partners are calling on everyone in the Netherlands to display the flag this coming Thursday. The coronavirus crisis is causing a great deal of uncertainty, loneliness, and sorrow. At the same time, we are seeing many wonderful initiatives emerging throughout the country to help one another wherever we can. We have to do this together. For the partners, displaying the flag symbolizes solidarity and respect, without wishing to detract from the sorrow of the people around us.
In addition to raising the flag, children are being asked to make a pennant themselves, with ‘a compliment for education’. This could also be a paper flag on the window, a digital flag in your profile picture, or something else creative. To support this campaign online as well, people are being asked to post a photo of the flag on social media with the hashtag #ikvlagvoorhetonderwijs.
One of the initiators, Dave Ensberg, chairman of Stichting Jantje Beton, says: “The flexibility, creativity, and dedication of everyone working in education and childcare is tremendous. Of course, we would all prefer to have the children back at school as soon as possible, but that is simply not the case. In the meantime, everyone is working incredibly hard to transition to distance learning and to care for groups of children with special needs. We hope that the entire Netherlands will display the flag in one way or another. In doing so, we are encouraging everyone in and around education; hats off to everything you are doing, it is being seen, and keep going!”
In addition to the flag campaign, the initiators have also made a great deal of extra, free teaching material available to teachers at lesopafstand.nl and Wikiwijs. The websites contain a great deal of information about how to approach distance learning. In this way, the organizations are not only thanking education, but also offering it something that can help them move forward. In this way, the organizations are not only thanking education, but also offering it something that can help them move forward.
This campaign is an initiative of, among others, Jantje Beton, Cruyff Foundation, PO-Raad, Stichting Move, Méér Muziek in de Klas, Skillstown, Onderwijs Maak je Samen, EDVenture, Kinderpostzegels, Krajicek Foundation, KBb-e, Ouders en Onderwijs, Missing Chapter, Kennisnet, IVN, de GEU, Kennisnet, and Onderwijszorg Nederland.