Tens of thousands of kids not attending school even though they want to

Tens of thousands of children in the Netherlands are not going to school even though a large share of this group would like to. The parenting association Balans concluded this after research was conducted. The association said that this is concerning more than 39,000 children and that this is an estimate. In addition, 30,000 young people have left school without a diploma while they are still subject to compulsory education.

According to the parenting association, there are also children who only go to school on some days and are therefore not included in these numbers. Other children are allegedly not welcome at their school for a period of time while the school is officially registering them as “sick.”

If they were also included, there would be almost 280,000 children who do not receive a full education, the study concluded. This amounts to one in every nine children of compulsory school age.

When it comes to the children who only go to school on some days, the parenting association said that this is about young people who need extra lessons to understand the material but are unable to get this with the current system.

“Teachers are doing their absolute best, but the education system does not suit a large group of children, and we are seeing that they are dropping out on mass,” said the director of Balans, Joli Luijckx. The association represents children with dyslexia, ADHD, and Asperger's, among others.

Balans wants the education system to change. "The Netherlands has compulsory education. This used to be logical because then you had child labor, and you wanted to prevent children from having to work. But it is focused on attendance. We want to move towards a right to education. Children want to flourish. They have the need to learn, and education must fit in with this,” Luijckx said.

One of the ideas that Balans has is for youth workers to work more closely with schools. “Now it is often the case that we wait for the behavior of a child to escalate before we do something. First, there is a problem at school, then the child stays at home, and then the child is given care,” Luijckx added.

“We are focusing on the group that has already dropped out, but at that point, you are too late. We are not looking at future dropouts. It helps when you do something when the problem is still a small one.”

The Ministry of Education, Culture, and Science said that they do not recognize the specific numbers but do agree that this issue is affecting too many students. They said that they are working on solving this issue. "At the same time, we know that this is a long-term process. We would therefore like to talk to Balans, and also to parents and young people, to hear more about the research and experiences," said the ministry.