Lack of funding of primary and secondary school has caused Netherland teachers to call for a countrywide strike. The underfunding has led to some classes being sent home for lack of teachers and some schools being shut down.
Teachers have vowed to go on strike on 6th November after the government failed to listen to their demands. The strike which will be held on a Wednesday will incorporate both primary and secondary teachers.
The union organizing the strike action had given the government until Sunday to respond to their demands. They wanted the government to increase the funding of education to a tune of 423.5 million euros for education. The money was meant to go into salary increase, reduction of workload teachers are currently experiencing and also address the teacher shortage across the country.
Netherland teachers call for reform in funding
The government has remained silent on this demand, a sign that has been interpreted by the organization to mean they are not considering meeting their demands. The government has also not indicated if it plans to increase the education budget for next year.
The strike action this time will take a different path, unlike the previous ones. The organizers have decided to have the maximum impact on their campaign to increase funds in their schools and they are looking to technology as an enabler.
The organizers stated that they will not be camping outside Hague making their demands known. The organizers have asked teachers to ensure that they use social media to make their demands known. They will also be required to meet up in their respective areas where they will unite with fellow teachers to demonstrate the lack of funding.
Education unions have criticized the government and claiming that it does not want to invest in education. The fact that classes are being sent home for lack of teachers and the government has done little to no effort is what the unions are fighting for. To put this into perspective, a school in Amsterdam closed down last month due to a lack of teachers.
Since 2018, teachers needed to resort to mass action to be heard by their governments.
