Don’t dive into the pool, but sweat above your maths. Thousands of children are going to school this summer, during their vacation. They take tutoring at summer schools. This is how they can get rid of the arrears that they have incurred due to the corona crisis. Although it is not yet certain whether summer schools actually have an effect.
School leaders shadow that 16 percent of the children have deteriorated due to the closure of the schools. The biggest backlogs can be seen in language, math and reading. The Ministry of Education has made 244 million euros available to eliminate this. Schools spend this money on summer programs, but also extra lessons in the fall or weekend.
Many summer schools have seen registrations rise considerably this year. For example in Almere, where the number of registrations has doubled, from 250 to 508 students. “As a result, we now teach at three locations in Almere, there is a lot of interest,” says Benny Velthuis of the Almeerse Scholen Groep.
The number of registrations is also increasing in Rotterdam, Zaandam and Eindhoven. And summer schools started for the first time in cities such as Hoorn and Enschede. 441 elementary and 75 secondary schools applied for a subsidy for a special summer program, which allows children to attend a summer school for free.
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