The extra year would be intended to make up for study delays incurred through the Coronavirus pandemic
Translated by Thomas Ansell
As reported by the NOS, the Dutch parliament (Tweede Kamer) has signalled that it supports giving students in the Netherlands one year of MBO, HBO, or University education for free. The motion was put forward by GroenLinks, and D66, and has a plurality of support from the SP, PvdA, ChristenUnie; and even the PVV.
Due to the Coronavirus pandemic, says the motion, students have been put under huge amounts of pressure; from canceled lessons and no chances of a causal job, to an all time low of social contact giving everyone a significantly lower quality of life.
Several educational institutions have also signalled that they would support the move. The national student unions, the LSVb, called the plans “a step in the right direction, but not enough”. The head of the union, Lyle Muns, said: “but there are also large numbers of students that have no income and have seen the quality of their education drop. In several other ways, too, students feel like they have experienced a lost year.”
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