Over a thousand teachers needed for migrant children

The Netherlands needs about 1,100 extra teachers to provide education to refugee children, the Volkskrant reported on Wednesday after their own calculations based on the number of refugee children currently in the Netherlands. On October 1st there were 7,306 refugee children in Dutch elementary schools and 9,298 in high schools. If each class consists of about 15 students, 500 teachers are needed at elementary schools and 600 at high schools. Marieke Postma of LOWAN, the foundation that helps schools with refugee education, told the newspaper that it is difficult to attract teachers to give lessons in the emergency shelters. Many asylum seekers only stay there for a few months and the teachers do not want to abandon their own students. The schools themselves also do not want to let their experience teachers go.