The cost of special education for children with a handicap or behavioural difficulties has soared to almost €1bn a year, reports Thursday’s Volkskrant.

But despite the extra money, half of the schools offering special education are considered poor by schools inspectors and the waiting list for places have not been reduced, the paper says.
Some 140,000 children in the Netherlands are either attending special schools or get government money to buy in extra help to keep them in ordinary schools.
Junior education minister Sharon Dijksma told MPs on Thursday that she is setting aside an extra €70m to improve regional cooperation between special schools and the allocation of places.