Thousands of primary school teachers, many at the beginning of their careers, are set to lose their jobs because of government spending cuts, according to the teacher training council in Monday’s Volkskrant.

The PO-Raad says primary school budgets are being cut by €900m, out of a total government contribution of €9.5bn.
‘Primary schools are increasingly getting into difficulties,’ spokeswoman Simone Walvisch told the paper. ‘This means classes are increasing in size, there is less money for cleaning and maintenance and extra teachers, who are employed to do extra tasks and mentoring, are being given their own classes.’
Extra help
The €900m in cuts includes €300m currently used to pay for classroom assistants for special needs children.
In addition, the cost of salaries, energy and teaching equipment is rising, the organisation says. The effect of the cuts is likely to be most acute next year.
Some 190,000 people work in the primary education sector. Education minister Marja van Bijsterveldt told the Volkskrant the job losses are not due to the cuts, but because many schools employ more teachers than their pupil numbers dictate.
Schools have also had more money to compensate for the higher taxes and premiums, she said.
The Volkskrant did not say how many teaching jobs are liable to be lost.