News item | 04-12-2024 | 06:30
The government wants every child and young person to have the opportunity to acquire technological skills. Whether it concerns using computers, programming or making prosthetics: mastering technological skills is essential in the world of today and tomorrow. The government is therefore giving a strong boost to technology education. Today the Techkwadraat subsidy scheme opens: regional collaborations between primary and secondary schools (HAVO, VWO and VMBO-T), companies and extracurricular organizations such as museums can work together to create a request submit. It concerns plans to build future-proof, comprehensive and high-quality technology education. €129 million is available for this first phase from the National Growth Fund.
State Secretary Mariëlle Paul (Fundamental Education and Emancipation): “It is important for children and young people to become acquainted with technology. This way, as a student, you discover the world behind this. Think of the possibilities of AI. Technological tools can also help you learn to read and write better. And of course, as a student you also become digitally skilled.”
Minister Dirk Beljaarts (Economic Affairs): “Nobody knows exactly what our economy will look like in 15 to 20 years. What challenges and opportunities technology offers our society. That is precisely why it is so important that children are well prepared. We do this by introducing children to technology education at an early age. In this way, we build a digitally resilient and resilient generation that can determine for itself what the high-tech economy of the day after tomorrow will look like.”
Coming into contact with technology
Techkwadraat’s ambition is that all children and young people in the Netherlands come into contact with technology at school and in their immediate environment. This way they get a better idea of technology, they can become enthusiastic about it and develop in it. This regardless of socio-economic status, gender or origin.
The impetus from the program strengthens and multiplies existing national and regional initiatives for technology education, of which there are already many. The aim of Techkwadraat is for schools, companies and extracurricular organizations such as museums, libraries, tech labs and science centers to jointly set up regional ‘learning ecosystems’. These are environments where education and practice come together, both inside and outside school hours. This could be anything: practicals at museums, schools or companies, a technology course for teachers or creating a teaching package in the field of technology.
In addition to the regional plans, the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Platform Talent for Technology program office guarantee national cohesion. They do this by, among other things, developing and sharing knowledge about technology education, tools and working examples. This ensures the sustainable anchoring of technology education.
Broader focus on technology education
The subsidy scheme is part of the broader Techkwadraat programme. This is one of the actions from the National Government’s Green and Digital Jobs Action Plan. By strengthening the focus on technology education in primary education, HAVO, VWO, VMBO-TL and specialized education, Techkwadraat ensures a broad orientation on technology and a good connection to (technical) training. This increases the impact on other programs such as Strong Technology Education (VMBO), Katapult (MBO/HBO) and other initiatives in (further) education.
Techkwadraat has a term of 8 years. The government is investing a total of €351.6 million in Techkwadraat over 8 years, funded from the National Growth Fund. With the resources from this first phase of this subsidy scheme, regional partners can jointly carry out and scale up activities over the next 3 school years (2025/2026, 2026/2027 and 2027/2028). In 2027, an evaluation will be conducted to determine whether conditional resources will also become available for the continuation of the program and the subsidy scheme until 2031.
Organizations can submit a joint application from December 4, 2024 to January 13, 2025 via this site.