Dutch pupil strike

The Dutch 'pupil strike' in 2007 was a series of student strikes in which students from the Netherlands, upset by demands from the government on its schools, ignored lessons and often went with masses to city halls in their municipalities.

Motivation

The pupil strike was motivated by the demands of the state on schools to fill up the demanded 1040 clock hours they have to legally teach each year. The state wanted schools to fill these up with extra hours in which pupils were to be in the class with a teacher without getting actual lessons. Pupils state this does not increase the quality of education.

First Strike

As an effect of these policies organizations like DWARS and LAKS called for a strike on Friday 23 November. This call was done via Instant Messaging. Pupils throughout the nation joined in the strike and started ignoring lessons that day starting from 11:00 AM. A second strike was called for on Monday 26 November and yet again many pupils participated.

The strike on Friday was generally calm, several pupils were however arrested on various charges. The strike on Monday was much wilder, with up to 21 pupils being arrested in Amsterdam alone.[1]

Effect

Secretary of State Van Bijsterveldt has made some concessions, easing the demands on the 1040 hour demand by cutting 40 hours of. Also a debate had been called and on Wednesday 28 November, but the decision around the 1040-hour demand remained.

Size of the strike

The pupil strike was a sizeable strike with thousands of pupils skipping their classes, the size of the strike could be attributed to the use of Instant Messaging software like MSN.[2]

Second Strike

Disgruntled with the lack of action by the Dutch state another strike was called for, this time to be held in Amsterdam. This turned out to be less of a success as LAKS had hoped for, with only 15'000 of the expected twenty- to fifty-thousands strikers turning up.[3]

December 2011 strike (pupils)

LAKS is asking all students to strike on 21 December because the government wants to shorten the summer holidays and increase the demanded clock hours to 1040 hours (just like 4 years ago).[4] LAKS and school pupils are against these plans because the government is going for quantity instead of quality.

January 2012 strike (teachers)

LIA, Leraren In Actie (Teachers In Action), is asking all teachers in the Netherlands to strike on 9, 10 and 11 January 2012.[5] Starting from 2012, teachers will have to work longer, get less holidays and must give more lessons for the same salary. The government is also going to spend 300 million euros less in education. This means classes will get bigger, which results in an even higher working pressure.[6]

References
  1. Agenten en docenten gewond bij leerlingenstaking
  2. Msn-bericht startsein voor scholierenstaking
  3. Scholier blijft netjes in 't gareel
  4. "LAKS. Voor scholieren. Door scholieren". Archived from the original on 14 January 2012. Retrieved 8 December 2011.
  5. Leraren In Actie - Vakbond voor leraren door leraren in het voortgezet onderwijs
  6. "Artikelen - Eduquality". Archived from the original on 4 September 2011. Retrieved 8 December 2011.
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