National strike by the whole education sector in the Netherlands on March 15

The General Education Union (AOb) has declared a national strike by teachers in primary, secondary, and higher education on March 15. They want more investment from the government in the education sector, as the workload is too high, and there are fewer teachers willing to take it on with the low funding, says AOb chairman Liesbeth Verheggen to de Volkskrant

They are organising this strike before the provincial elections on March 20, so that it is put on the government’s agenda. They are making “a demand of 4 billion euros for the entire education: from primary education up to and including university education”. They have a list of requirements which are specific for each sector, and you can view them here. If you’re still unclear of the education system here, check out this guide for expats!

Who is participating in the strike?

The union has a total membership of 84,000, making it the largest education union in the Netherlands. They are also supported by various action groups like PO in action and WO in action. They are working together with FNV Education and Research in bringing together this strike.

However, CNV Education, the second largest education union with 50,000 members, does not want to participate, reports the Volkskrant. The chairman Loek Schueler was in the middle of negotiations in January for more money for primary school teachers and caretakers, and does not think it is a good time.

Action week and the national strike

This national strike is preceded with an action week that started on March 11, and will conclude on March 15. According to their program  on their website, they called for a ‘noise and applause moment’ at noon to kickstart it, where they urged parents, pupils, students and educational staff to show in any way that they support this demand for higher investments. For example according to their website, students in Utrecht University walked through the library with whistles, pots and pans with a sign that read “Good education has a price”.

The action week will continue, where they have various things planned in various educational institutions around the country. For a full list of what is happening, check out their website, and see if you can participate!

Have you already been participating? What do you make of this action week and strike? Let us know in the comments!

Feat Image by Jerry Kimbrell from Pixabay

 

Kavana Desai
Kavana Desaihttps://medium.com/@kavanadesai
Coping with the aftermath of her 3-year stint in the Netherlands, Kavana is a writer, content creator and editor for DutchReview. Hailing from India, she frequently blogs about the Netherlands, being Indian in the Netherlands, and everything in between. She envisions herself to one day be the youngest person to win that Nobel Prize for Literature (she is also not very humble but welcomes only constructive criticism). In the meantime, she fills her days with writing for DutchReview, writing her master's thesis on art theft, and writing fiction that will hopefully see the light of day soon.

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