News item | 03-02-2022 | 4:00 pm
Students need healthy air to learn well and teachers must be able to stand safely in front of the class, especially in times of corona. Because better ventilation in the classrooms is now really needed, there will be a helpline for schools, an emergency service of experts who help to get the ventilation in order and every classroom will be given a CO2 meter.
Minister Dennis Wiersma (Primary and Secondary Education), the Primary and Secondary Education Council (the representatives of primary and secondary education) and the Association of Dutch Municipalities (VNG) have agreed on this.
Dennis Wiersma (Primary and Secondary Education): “Teachers and students have the right to healthy air in the classroom. Especially in this corona time, we have to do everything we can to keep schools open responsibly. School boards and municipalities are working hard to improve ventilation. But we still see too many schools where it is not yet good and that simply has to improve quickly.”
Freddy Weima (PO Council)“It’s good that the minister is paying attention to the bad buildings in primary, special and secondary education. With the agreements we are now making, there will soon be a view on better ventilation in every room. In addition, we work on tailor-made solutions for the most urgent situations where more is needed in the building. We will also make agreements to make all school buildings educationally adaptive, healthy, accessible and sustainable in the longer term. And that is sorely needed!”
Henk Hagoort (VO council): “We are pleased with this extra impulse to improve ventilation in schools in the short term. But much more needs to be done to improve the indoor climate in the often outdated school buildings, to make them suitable for contemporary education and to make them more sustainable. This requires a substantial financial boost and a joint approach. It’s good that we have agreed to work on this together in the short term.’
Eelco Eerenberg (VNG): ,, The past corona time has taught us the usefulness and necessity of good ventilation. At the moment there are still too many buildings and locations where the ventilation in buildings is not yet in order. That is why we are happy with this tailor-made approach in which urgent situations are dealt with quickly.”
Helpline
Schools, teachers and municipalities that need help and advice for ventilation can call the separate number 0800-0224402 and the website ventilationhelp.nl. Here, schools can be helped directly with urgent questions and receive practical tips.
emergency service
A support team of experts can also be called in via the telephone number. Schools in need of advice are then visited by an expert who will help with good ventilation in the short term and a plan to improve it in the longer term. In addition, schools and municipalities can use the existing SUViS subsidy scheme until April 30 to improve ventilation.
CO2 meters
Every classroom should also have a CO2 meter, so that you can see whether it is necessary to open the windows against each other between classes, for example. The Ministry of Education, Culture and Science is making 17 million euros available for the purchase through the lump sum. Schools that have purchased the meters before will be reimbursed in this way. Schools receive information from the Ruimte-OK knowledge center about how to use the CO2 meter properly and what to do if the meter indicates too high values.
Long term
We understand that these agreements do not immediately solve all ventilation problems, but these agreements will improve the situation in the short term. Research shows that more needs to be done to improve outdated school buildings and make them more sustainable. OCW, the VNG, PO Council and VO Council will discuss this further.