News item | 11-06-2025 | 11:15
Being able to read well is important to be able to develop, to be able to participate in society. That is why this cabinet continues to focus on promoting reading and reading skills. As part of this, structural money is now becoming available for the library at school, rising to € 50 million per year from 2028. In this way this initiative will get a sustainable future and more students benefit from it. The financial injection fits other initiatives from this cabinet to improve the basic skills.
State Secretary Mariëlle Paul (Fundend Education and Emancipation): “Whether it is a follow -up course, finding a place on the labor market or participating in society, being able to read well is essential. I have put my shoulders underneath – and I keep doing that. It is not very important to read students, and the expertise is to make it very important, it is the expertise to make the expertise in the expertise, it is the expertise, it is very important to make students in. Nice.
Minister Eppo Bruins (Education, Culture and Science): “Reading comes in handy in everything you do. Libraries play an important role in reaching people throughout the country, reading pleasure and reading skills. Good that they can also provide a rich reading environment for each child in schools. By structurally investing in the library at school, we ensure that it is even more easily and more to ensure that it is even more easy to ensure that it is to make it even easier to ensure that it is to ensure that it is even more easy to ensure that it is to ensure that it is even easier to see that it is to ensure that it is to ensure that it is even easier to ensure that it is to ensure that it is to ensure that it is to make it possible to make sure that it is to ensure that it is even easier to ensure that it is to make it possible” ”” ”” ”” ”” ”” ”” ”” ”” ”” ”” ”” ””.
Effective approach
The library at school is a collaboration between libraries and schools, carried out by Stichting Lezen, the Koninklijke Bibliotheek and the provincial support institutions, to promote reading pleasure and reading skills. Schools that participate have a challenging and suitable collection of books for their students. Pupils can use this at school, and can take the books home. Students also become better readers because teachers get help from experts from the library in the field of reading and media. And of course a lot is read in these schools, preferably every day. Almost all libraries in our country now participate in the library at school.
Research shows that Children at primary schools who participate in this initiative, read more fun, read more often and become more reader. Reading also has a proven positive effect on their vocabulary and knowledge of the world.
Get to structural money
Due to the great importance of reading and the positive results of the library at school, the government has decided to convert the temporary subsidy of € 24 million per year from 2027 into structural financing. In 2027 there is € 38 million available from the education budget; From 2028 it will be € 50 million annually. It concerns resources that had already been reserved for this. From 2027 the money will be divided between schools (through targeted funding) and libraries.
With the current subsidy, the focus is on schools with a complex student population. The target group will be widened to all Schools in Fundering Education. Libraries can also use structural financing for collaboration with childcare (BoekStart), with teacher training courses or with MBO.
Measures Read skills
Stimulating the library at school is one of the measures that the government takes to promote reading in students, and thereby improve their reading skills.
Basic skills such as reading and writing are central to the current update of the curriculum. That means, among other things, rich texts in Dutch and for case subjects such as geography, history and biology. Furthermore, schools from the Basic Skills Master Plan can receive extra resources and support to work in a targeted way to improve their reading education. Knowledge about effective reading education is also shared. To indicate how important she finds reading and reading reading herself, State Secretary Paul started the ‘reading room’ last year, a book club where she discusses a book with students every quarter, sometimes also together with the writer of the book.