After fee hike, Flemish government also cuts funding for adult education

Due to falling enrolment numbers, which have decreased in response to recent fee changes, Flemish education minister Zuhal Demir is cutting the funding that adult education centres (CVO) will receive for the coming school year. That reported Het Nieuwsblad on Friday.

In May, the education minister decided to make courses for shortage occupations cheaper, but other courses became much more expensive. According to the education cabinet, this led to a 7 per cent drop in enrolments in the first months of the current school year, which in turn reduced income.

Normally, funding is calculated on the basis of the number of enrolments over the last three years, with adjustments spread out over time, but Demir is now doing this for once on the basis of a single year.

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This will result in savings of 10 million euros next year and almost 30 million euros in 2027. The measure will mainly affect staff, such as teachers and support and policy staff.

Sources close to the Flemish government say that this will affect 350 full-time employees out of a total workforce of 7,084 in the Centres for Basic Education and Secondary Adult Education. That is just under twelve full-time equivalents per adult education centre, of which there are thirty in Flanders.

^{#FlandersNewsService | Flemish education minister Zuhal Demir © PHOTO BELGIAN_FREELANCE/Werner Lerooy}

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