More schools requiring laptops; Many parents can't afford them

Laptops are becoming an increasingly indispensable part of education that many parents cannot afford. More and more parents are asking private organizations for help in buying school supplies for their children, and digital resources like laptops are often the thing they need help with, reported Stichting Leergeld, a foundation that provides school-related financial support for families with limited income.

“Why free school books, but no free laptops?” asked Leergeld director Gaby van den Biggelaar. “Digital learning resources have become indispensable for following education. That is why they should be available to students free of charge, just like school books.”

Over the past three years, the foundation, which is funded by municipalities and lotteries, has received more and more requests for financial assistance. In 2021, it helped 128,946 children with school and sports supplies. In 2023, that was 181,717 children, an increase of around 40 percent. The aid organization provided over 20,000 laptops last year.

“Laptops are by far the largest expense item for parents with school-going children. In most secondary schools, a laptop is now as essential as textbooks,” Van den Biggelaar said.

Legally, schools that require laptops are responsible for providing them to students. But in practice, parents often have to cover the costs. One parent told NL Times that the school says their child doesn’t need a laptop, but it runs out of loaner laptops within minutes every morning.

Nieuwsuur surveyed over 50 secondary schools and found major differences in how they implement and fund laptop education. For example, a student in Zeist has to buy their own MacBook, while a peer in Oosterhout receives a laptop from the school. The high costs are a reason for some schools to do away with laptops altogether. “A large proportion of parents would find it difficult to bear those costs, so we are not using them for the time being,” the Cobbenhagen schools in Tilburg told the program.

Leergeld, working with eleven other organizations, including PO-Raad, VO-Raad, and Ouders & Onderwijs, urged the government to finance digital teaching materials as it does with school books.

“It is ridiculouls that children need a laptop for compulsory education, but that parents have to turn to a private foundation like ours to pay for it. We have been having this discussion for years. Now it is time to find a solution,” Van den Biggelaar said to Nieuwsuur.

In 2021, then-Education Minister Arie Slob acknowledged that the Free School Books Act lagged behind the reality of digital education. Last year, then-Education Minister Robbert Dijkgraaf wrote to parliament that a “sustainable solution” had to be found, but the Cabinet collapsed before anything happened. Leergeld and its collaborators are now pinning their hopes on the new Cabinet.

The Ministry of Education, Culture, and Science told Nieuwsuur that providing laptops in secondary education would cost around 201 million euros. The coalition agreement did not set resources aside for this. The Ministry said it would investigate the effectiveness of existing regulations and inform parliament about this in the autumn.