Labour party, D66 both promise more money for education in election campaigns

Both the PvdA and D66 promise to invest more money into education in their respective election campaigns. The PvdA set 5 billion euros aside for education and promises substantial salary increases for teachers and a lighter workload. The D66 assigned 4.5 billion euros to education and wants more teachers and smaller classes.

The PvdA wants to make teaching a more attractive profession, RTL Nieuws reports. To do so the party wants to increase primary school teachers' salaries by 3.25 percent and secondary school teachers' by 3.5 percent. The party also wants to reduce teachers' workload by having them spend less time in class so they have more time for other things, such as marking examinations.

The Labour party wants to introduce its plans first at schools in disadvantaged neighborhoods, because teachers there have the toughest time, according to the party. To manage this, more teachers will be needed. The party therefore set 500 million euros aside for attracting more teachers.

The D66 wants to improve education with smaller classes and more help for kids with learning delays, AD reports. The party also wants to make teaching a more attractive profession. To do so the D66 wants to reduce the time teachers spend on administrative work and give them more time to pay proper attention to the quality of their lessons. The party set 1 billion euros aside for this. "Most teachers do not complain first about their salary, but about having too little space for their profession." D66 leader Alexander Pechtold said to AD.

According to the D66 leader, there is a growing division in education between children from wealthy families and poor families. This has to stop. "It's almost hereditary. If you are born in the wrong postcode, you're already behind. If parents have a language deficiency, their children have a problem. We therefore want preschool classes and 'customization' for disadvantaged pupils and top talents. There is currently too little of that." Pechtold said.

Tge D66 wants admin workers at elementary schools to take over some of the teachers' admin work. The party also wants to limit classes to 24 pupils and more preschool lessons for toddlers to prevent learning arrears.