Youth Perspective Platform: Keep schools open at all times

The Youth Perspective Platform (PPJ), chaired by Kim Putters, is an independent committee of the National Education Programme (NPO) that monitors the programme's choices and spending and provides societal guidance. With financial support, the NPO aims to facilitate the recovery and development of education during and after the coronavirus pandemic, so that learning deficits and study delays can be addressed.

Keep schools open

According to the PPJ, it is of great importance for our society and future generations to focus on the preconditions needed to keep primary and secondary schools, as well as institutions in vocational and higher education, open at all times. Closing schools should not be an option. The PPJ states that keeping schools open will prevent inequality of opportunity from increasing further as a result of the pandemic.

Sustainable approach

The PPJ observes that the NPO's stated objectives are probably too ambitious to achieve within 2.5 years when it comes to addressing accumulated learning deficits and social and socio-emotional issues. This calls for a more sustainable approach and a longer-term commitment, involving cooperation with local partners such as sports clubs, libraries and cultural education organisations.

A structural approach to the teacher shortage, as well as a safe and well-ventilated learning and working environment, are essential in this regard. These preconditions are crucial for keeping schools and institutions open, thereby preventing new learning deficits and making the NPO a success, the committee states in its advisory letter.

Developing a vision

“The problems in education are not new,” says Anita Kraak of the Netherlands Youth Institute. “Even before coronavirus, there was—incidentally, not only in education—increasing inequality of opportunity and performance pressure, as well as tightness in the labour market. In that respect, coronavirus acts as a magnifying glass.” Kraak endorses the PPJ's message that closing schools is not an answer to a crisis situation. “It is therefore high time for society to develop a long-term vision of how we want children and young people in the Netherlands to grow up and which values we want to place at the centre of this. We must then act on that consistently and transparently.”

Source: Youth Perspective Platform