Jet Bussemaker

Primary schools teachers across the Netherlands are striking this morning. Almost all primary schools in the country will open at 9:30 a.m., instead of 8:30 a.m. One positive side effect to this strike, is that traffic information service VID expects less traffic on the road during rush hour this morning.

Most Dutch universities and colleges still charge students tuition when they suspend their studies for a year to sit on the board of an association. "Instead of colleges and universities thanking their committed and ambitious student executives for their crucial contribution to a challenging study climate, they punish them by charging them for courses they aren't following", Rhea van der Dong of student association ISO said, ANP reports. 

Education organization BON thinks that Dutch universities and colleges offer too many courses in English instead of Dutch to attract foreign students, instead of focusing on whether the switch to English will improve the course. The organization is threatening a lawsuit against the universities and colleges if the new government doesn't implement stricter rules for tertiary institutions in their government agreement, AD reports. 

The Dutch government should do more to protect historic shipwrecks in the Wadden Sea and North Sea from looters, tides and mussel bank constructions, the five coastal provinces wrote in a letter to Minister Jet Bussemaker of Education, Culture and Science. If there is no intervention, hundreds of those historic shipwrecks and their sometimes precious cargo may be lost, they write, NOS reports.

The provinces want an investigation to be done to map the status of the shipwrecks. Based on the results, the necessary measures can be taken.

The Dutch government ordered a salvage operation for the cargo of an 18th century Dutch East Indies ship which sank near Kent, England in 1740. An international team will salvage the cargo of De Rooswijk between July and October, NU.nl reports.

Minister Jet Bussemaker of Education, Culture and Science called De Rooswijk a "time capsule" in an interview with AD on Tuesday. The ship offers "a unique view into the past", the departing Minster said. "The archeological information we can gain from this wreck is extremely valuable to describe this period in history."

Two paintings by Vincent van Gogh that were stolen from the Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam in 2002, are finally back home. On Tuesday the museum invited members of the press to see the works for the first time in just over 14 years. From Wednesday the paintings will be on display to the public, AD reports.

Thousands of people gathered on the Malieveld in The Hague on Wednesday afternoon for a Holland against Hate demonstration against American president Donald Trump. The initiators want the protest to show that the Netherlands is against Trump's "xenophobic policy" of closing the United States borders to people from seven Muslim countries. They also hope to convince the Dutch government to send the same signal. Many politicians were also part of the demonstration, NOS reports.

The National Reading Days in the Netherlands kicked off on Wednesday morning with numerous Dutch celebrities reading to kids at breakfast at schools, kindergartens, daycares and libraries across the country, Het Parool reports. 

The Heerlen police arranged extra protection for the Grotius College and its school grounds. The College's director, teachers and students received threats in response to the suicide of 15-year-old student Tharukshan Selvam on Sunday, AD reports.

The Dutch government wants more and better organized aid for the about 66 thousand young people in the Netherlands who are unqualified and unemployed. Ministers Lodewijk Asscher of Social Affairs and Employment and Jet Bussemaker of Education therefore instructed benefits agency UWV, social services and municipalities to team up for a joint approach to helping this vulnerable group, the Volkskrant reports.

Education Minister Jet Bussemaker is investing 87 million euros over the next three years into tackling inequalities in education. The money is intended to make sure that children of poorly educated parents get the same opportunities as children from a higher social environment, NOS reports.

Earlier this year the Education Inspectorate released a report stating that children with the same talents soometimes don't get the same opportunities in school - the family into which you are born still plays a big roll in your education.