Expensive month of September is coming: parents are already worried about school costs | Interior

In total, 9.6 percent of parents indicate that they already had problems with school bills last year. 14 percent, on the other hand, found it difficult to pay for trips lasting several days. According to 63 percent, school bills also increased last school year. In other words, September is a very expensive school month due to the purchase of new textbooks and other study materials.

The Flemish School Organization (VSK) is not surprised by the figures. The organization itself surveyed 10,996 students in April: 8 percent of them indicated that the cost of a school trip was already a reason not to go. “I myself am convinced of the usefulness of school trips,” says VSK chairman Mauro Michielsen. “In addition to the educational aspect, you should not underestimate its social importance. But it is of course the intention that every student goes along. At my own school, they noticed that the traditional London trip had become much more expensive as a result of Brexit. From now on, the sixth-year students will go to Paris”, it sounds.

The student umbrella organization asks Minister of Education Ben Weyts (N-VA) to introduce a maximum invoice for secondary education, adjusted per field of study. “Schools themselves can best avoid the one-off use of expensive fill-in books and replace them with digital alternatives,” says Michielsen. “It is also important that schools map out the home situation of their students, so that they can offer support to parents who cannot pay the school bills.”