€100 million pushed into improving schools' ventilation

The caretaker cabinet is allocating an extra 100 million euros this year to improve ventilation in schools. The money comes from a pot that was planned to only become available in 2023, Education Minister Arie Slob reported.

The cabinet earmarked a total of 360 million euros to improve the indoor climate in schools over the next three years. This should also contribute to reducing the spread of the coronavirus within educational institutions.

The interest in the scheme is so great that the budget of 100 million euros for this year was almost exhausted before the summer. GroenLinks and the PvdA therefore requested that part of the remaining money be released earlier. A majority in parliament supported that proposal.

According to Slob, all applications submitted in the first half of the year can be honored with the extra amount for 2021. After that, there remains "more than enough" for a second round, according to the caretaker minister.