WILLEMSTAD - The financial situation of the education sector in Curaçao was already extremely difficult before the corona crisis. But now, due to the necessary cuts, the situation has only worsened according to the school boards.
Teachers are now desperate and are asking the Netherlands for help.
A remarkable choice because it was the Netherlands in particular that made cuts in the civil service on the island a condition for granting an emergency loan to the island. The Curaçao government says that this condition makes it necessary to cut 12.5 percent of fringe benefits in education. There is also a cut of 45 million guilders planned for the education budget.
In the meantime, schools need additional funds to meet stricter hygiene requirements against corona. Something that schools could hardly guarantee due to financial shortages before the crisis.
Kingdom affairs
“All schoolchildren in the Kingdom must be given equal opportunities,” said Jurine Nieddu-Evertsz, teacher and initiator of the petition for help from The Hague. During the lockdown, she founded a union with other teachers: Dosentenan pa un Edukashon Nobo (DOEN) and this month she sent the petition to the Dutch Undersecretary of Kingdom Relations Raymond Knops.
The boards of the special school boards have also joined forces and hope for support from the Netherlands. According to Maghalie van der Bunt-George of the Association for Protestant Christian Education (VPCO), education in Curaçao should become a Kingdom affair if it turns out that the island itself cannot finance it.
Not all teachers on board
The petition has no support from all colleagues in education. The largest education union in Curaçao, Sitek, believes that there is no respect for the politicians in government.
The new educational union DOEN and the related petition arose from this difference of opinion. 800 people supported the petition with a signature. Nieddu-Evertsz expects that a large portion of the teachers who signed up will also support the new union.
Cut back on education “not an option”
“Teachers will experience a significant drop in income soon, based on the Netherlands' intentions. This can lead in personal terms to financial challenges that no teacher is now prepared for,” says the educational union DOEN. Also, according to Van der Bunt-George, “there is no longer any way to cut costs in education.”
Last week, a new committee was created that will again consider the budget. “We actually hope that that committee will also recognize that there simply should not be any cuts in education. Elsewhere in the Kingdom, you can see that wage increases have taken place, schools receive subsidies to get rid of the Covid arrears. More attention has been paid to the scarcity of education staff. We also have these problems here.”
