The Esdal College in Borger has just been open for a year, but has to be bigger now. The school now has more than 200 students, while the building is designed for 154 students. A big surprise and reason enough for expansion.
“Five years ago we thought, thanks to prognoses, that the number of students would fall,” said director Matthias Kooistra earlier. “But that never happened. In fact, we are growing.” This growth ensures full classrooms and a stop on interim intake. New students can only start in August.
That is why there is now an extension of 404 square meters, which means that there will soon be room for 223 students. This way the school can go ahead again.
The Borger-Odoorn city council is asked to make around one and a half million euros available. The municipality pays 85 percent and Aurelia Education (the school board) contributes 15 percent. “I can’t be very disappointed,” said Yannick Olij (PvdA). “Sure it is annoying that the prognoses from a year ago are not correct, but growth of a secondary school? That is a luxury problem for a former shrinking municipality such as Borger-Odoorn.”
The rest of the council agrees with that. “But we should not encounter the same problem again in two years,” says Arne Joling (VVD). Erik Braam (ChristenUnie) nods: “Hurry is rarely good.” Everyone agrees, expanding is not a problem, but this time the prognoses must be correct. “Remember that Borger is growing with all new construction plans.”
If everything goes according to plan, construction starts in 2026. The expansion must not only ensure sufficient space, but also for future -proof education. Forecasts indicate that the number of students will remain over 200 in the next 15 years.