The drafter of the law is Paul van Meenen, Member of Parliament, who has been fighting for the right to education for years. But as education ministers don’t move forward and the education sector is more opposed than cooperative, this won’t get off the ground. “And so I myself made a law that really regulates the right to education,” says Van Meenen: “Every child has the right to develop, every child can develop and that makes this law possible.”
According to the deputy, more than 6,000 children have been exempt from compulsory schooling: “Parents have been told: keep your child at home, you will not be fined for evading compulsory schooling”. But there are also thousands of children who are enrolled, but don’t go to school at all.
Van Meenen: “Think of children with disabilities, gifted children. Or children where too little attention is paid to what the child needs and where it is said: what we have does not suit the child, too bad. I find that impossible.”
Perseverance
In his bill, Van Meenen introduces the apprenticeship officer. This official will have the power to find a solution for any child who doesn’t fit on the school potty. And this solution must therefore be implemented by the school. The teaching officer has the power of perseverance.
“This civil servant must sit down with all parties involved in organizing education. Left or right. This means that sometimes he is only partly in school, it can be in a private institution, it can be a health institution, partly a home, the can be digital Everything is possible, it’s the school that has to organize it and the head of education that will enforce it.”
Lost day
Van Meenen will soon send his bill to the Council of State, the most important advisory body to the House of Representatives and the Cabinet. That council will issue an opinion on the law, after which he can start the debate in the House of Representatives and in the Senate. Van Meenen hopes, especially on this International Children’s Day, that this will happen quickly, because “every day this law is not in effect is a lost day for children”.
