Eindhoven wants to significantly increase the number of schools in the city in the near future. The city is on the eve of a ‘scale leap’: an enormous growth in the number of inhabitants. That is why 16 schools will be expanded over the next four years, while two new schools will also be added. Eindhoven is investing a total of 230 million euros. “The largest investment in the field of educational housing ever for the municipality of Eindhoven,” says councilor Stijn Steenbakkers.
The Brainport region is expected to grow rapidly in the coming years. Chip machine manufacturer ASML alone expects to double its workforce to 40,000 after 2030. Half of them must work in the campus yet to be built at Brainport Industries Campus (BIC) in Eindhoven.
Significant growth expected
The expectation is that the many new ‘technical hands’ will also take a family to the smartest region. And that means that schools in Eindhoven, among others, also have to grow along with it. “We expect growth of just over 23 percent for primary schools over the next sixteen years. We estimate growth for secondary schools at 6 percent,” said responsible councilor Steenbakkers on Wednesday.
The expansion project is major. This concerns a total of 18 schools over the next four years:
- 16 primary schools: 14 will be expanded and two new schools will be built
- two secondary schools are being expanded
Flexible construction
The municipality of Eindhoven is counting on significant growth in the number of students over the next 16 years. For example, it is expected that the number of children in primary school will increase during that period from 19,403 children now to 23,974 students. At secondary schools, the number of students will increase from 14,932 to 15,857. The municipality wants to expand and/or build new schools in total over the next sixteen years.
The growth in the number of children remains an estimate. It is not possible to say exactly how many will come. This is taken into account when building and renovating the schools.
“We are going to build flexibly,” says councilor Steenbakkers. “Suppose there is less growth in a neighborhood than expected, then we can easily convert it into homes, for example. You have to take that into account during construction.”
‘Smart minds and handy hands needed’
Councilor Steenbakkers is happy with the expansion plans for the schools. “This is really the largest investment in the field of educational housing ever for the municipality of Eindhoven. We have made a huge amount of catch-up over the past four years with eight new secondary schools. That really amounted to a huge amount of approximately 150 million euros. But this is still a step further and that is also necessary.”
“Eindhoven is growing fast and we need all those smart minds, but also handy hands. And that starts in education.”
Widen or top up
Peter Tijs from the SKPO school umbrella organization also looks at the large-scale expansion with great confidence. “It has been investigated how the schools can expand. Some schools can be widened, other schools can be increased in height with an extra floor on top. That has all been considered.”
Expanding the number of school desks is one thing, but will there be enough teachers to be in front of the classroom in the future? For the time being, things are still going well, according to the school umbrella organisations, but the municipality is looking at whether some professions can be given priority. “For example, teachers are given priority for housing, just like nurses,” says councilor Steenbakkers.
“We are still experimenting with that. But we are also looking at hybrid teachers, people from ASML, for example, who will teach the classroom one day a week. That also reduces the burden.”
The plans for tackling the schools are not yet completely finalized. The city council is expected to make a decision on it in February next year.
The so-called scale jump is being considered throughout the Brainport region. In Helmond they also think that additional schools are needed to accommodate the large influx of knowledge workers and their families. The municipality previously indicated that they think that at least 6 to 7 primary schools and at least one secondary school will have to be built around 2040.