‘Targeted policy’ needed to tackle growing child poverty in The Netherlands

Dutch schools are being urged to make clear policy plans for identifying and helping children who are living in poverty.

The Netherlands Youth Institute (Nederlands Jeugdinstituut – NJi) says all schools have to deal with issues around poverty, and so it is vital that they identify the problems as they arise and make it an open topic of discussion with a child’s family.

Establishing a clear policy, says the institute, will help both sides, by setting out a vision, ambitions and what the objectives are.

It comes as the Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis (CPB) says that without sufficient interventions, child poverty – kinderarmoede – is likely to increase from 4.7 per cent this year to 4.9 per cent by 2028. Although it acknowledges child poverty has fallen faster than general poverty in recent years, new measures are urgently needed to help vulnerable families.

Ellen Donkers of the NJi, said that while poverty was an important topic during campaigning for the general election last November, it was still not clear what measures the government was proposing to help children and their families.

‘It is important there is targeted policy for the long term’

“The previous government had the goal of halving the number of children in poverty by 2025 compared to 2015. We already know that the new government has adjusted this goal to not allowing child poverty to increase further than in 2024 – that is a lot less ambitious,” said Donkers.

It has set out a series of guidelines designed to help schools, including tools for assessing how the school’s population ties in with child poverty numbers in the local area. Schools should also look at how they can help children living in such circumstances participate properly in school activities, which could for example include the provision of excursions.

The guidelines also look at what financial solutions may exist in or can be created by schools, and this might include the provision of laptops and other equipment for children whose families are struggling, helping children who come to school hungry, and considering what municipal subsidies might be available to apply for.

Donkers added: “It is important that there is a targeted policy for the long term. Temporary measures make families uncertain. Because what will happen to them and their children when such a measure expires? Combating poverty among children and families requires structural solutions,”

Click here for more information on the NJi guidelines for schools (in Dutch).