Gov't cutting €342 million in subsidies for education and science

The government is cutting 342 million euros in subsidies for education and science, and over 10 million euros in cultural subsidies, Minister Eppo Bruins of Education, Culture and Science said in a letter to parliament. The Minister spoke of “painful” choices. “In some areas, the measures will result in less support for pupils and students.”

The Minister spread the cuts out over many subsidies, instead of completely cutting a single big subsidy.

Among other things, the Minister is cutting some funding from the scheme to invest in primary school gym classes and the scheme for extra support for gifted children. He also cut 8.7 million euros from the subsidy to help kids not attending school do so and scrapped the higher salary increase for teachers intended to compensate for high inflation and energy prices.

The regional investment fund aimed at better preparing secondary vocational students for the labor market by making agreements between schools and companies will be abolished. The “study advance funds” for universities and universities of applied sciences will be cut by 10 million euros. This money came from the introduction of the student loan system in 2015 and was intended to improve the quality of education.

Also noteworthy is that the government is scrapping the reserved budget for an imam training course. According to the memo sent to parliament, “it was impossible to get the various parties to work together.”

In the cultural sector, the biggest cut is a structural 6.7 million euro cut to the public broadcasting budget.

The government announced on Budget Day that the Ministry of Education, Culture, and Science would implement 360 million euros in cuts to subsidies. This is an elaboration of that plan.