Anger and incomprehension that their secondary school has to close. At a discussion evening in Mill, more than 200 people tried to convince the board of Merlet College that the school in the village should not close. But it doesn’t look like the evening is going to change that.
In October, the Merlet College, with schools in Grave, Cuijk, Velp and Mill, announced that the location in Mill will close in due course. There are not enough students in the future to keep the school open.
“It had to be,” says rector Iedje Heere. “The number of students will be halved. Then it is difficult to continue to provide good education.” According to the school, it is becoming increasingly difficult to properly offer all VMBO specialisations. For example, many technical courses have already disappeared at the Merlet College in Mill.
“Children choose Mill for its small scale and safety.”
And so the school will be moved to Cuijk, is the plan. “So that we can better support children at a larger school,” says Jos Kusters of OMO, the umbrella association of Our Secondary Education, which includes Merlet.
And precisely that attention is exactly what they in Mill are afraid of that it will disappear. The inhabitants of the village are proud of their small secondary school. “I sat on the Merlet myself,” says mother Joyce. “Children choose Mill for its small scale and safety. Why go to such a big school? Keep it small. The children do not need masses.”
“Why can’t it stay in Mill?”
“My son has ADHD,” adds another mother. “He gets lost in such a large school building as in Cuijk. He goes crazy there.”
“Why does pre-vocational secondary education have to leave Mill?” asks another. “Why can’t it stay in Mill and that the pre-vocational secondary education from Cuijk will also go to Mill?” It is a question that is asked a lot.
But that is not the case, says the school board. The management wants to move the pre-vocational secondary education to Cuijk, because it is easy to collaborate there with the secondary vocational education school that is already located there. This is especially important for technical education.
It is not yet known when Merlet College in Mill will close. The school promises that all students who are now being taught there will be able to complete their education in Mill.
