Violent incidents at schools increase, discrimination down 40 percent

The number of reports of physical violence in Dutch schools increased from 426 to 569 in the 2015/16 school year, according to a report from the Education Inspectorate. The complaints about discrimination on the grounds of race or religion decreased by around 40 percent to 28 complaints. The total number of reports decreased slightly, from 2,000 to 1,962, the Telegraaf reports.

A third of the physical violence reports involved assault, such as fights in the schoolyard. Some of these violent incidents had "serious consequences", according to the report. The consequences were not stipulated.

The reports of sexual abuse decreased slightly to 102 reports. In about half of these cases a teacher, caretaker or someone else working at the school was named as culprit. Reports of psychological harassment decreased from 1,098 to 979. Half of these cases involved bullying.

The report gives no explanation for the developments in the figures. According to a spokesperson for the Inspectorate, the report should be seen as merely a statistical picture of such events in school during a school year.