Schools lack capacity, teachers for incoming Ukrainian children

The teacher shortage across the Netherlands is raising concerns that municipalities and language schools will not be able to properly educate the expected influx of Ukrainian children. Cabinet members and educators are divided on how to handle this.

Primary and Secondary Education Minister Dennis Wiersma predicted that between 15,000 and 25,000 children could come to the Netherlands from Ukraine, according to NOS. Language schools in particular are worried about their capacity.

"In one week we received 50 registrations. And we are full,” said Jacqueline van den Bor, director of the Language School Hilversum, to NOS.

Some say older Ukrainian children should not be expected to immediately learn Dutch, since could likely communicate with Dutch children in English. “Give them practical training in one of the 200 professions that you can learn at Aventus,” Martine van Tilburg, director of the Aventus training center, told NOS.

In the municipality of Almere, a task force is arranging more shelter and has found a teacher who speaks Ukrainian. However, the municipality expects 400 to 500 children and language schools do not have the capacity for that many, said Theo Klein Koerkamp of Taalcentrum Almere.

“We are trying to scale [newcomer education] up as much as possible,” Wiersma said. “If that fails, we will create temporary educational facilities for these children to prevent them from entering mainstream education en masse.”