Minister Plasterk endorses Dutch
as main language in the Kingdom
~English can prevail as language of instruction~
AMSTERDAM--The Netherlands will not force Saba and St. Eustatius to implement Dutch as the language of instruction in schools once the islands are integrated in the Dutch Constellation. However, Dutch Education Minister Ronald Plasterk is encouraging students to master the Dutch language before engaging in studies in the Netherlands.
“Dutch binds us in the Kingdom. If we don’t speak the language in the Kingdom, we’ll lose what connects us,” said Plasterk during a gathering of the Antillean organisation Vereniging Antilliaans Netwerk VAN in Amsterdam Friday evening. He said he hoped that the new countries Curaçao and St. Maarten would become members of the so-called ‘Taal Unie,’ the language union, since this will contribute to the sense of unity in the Dutch Kingdom.
Of course, English and Papiamentu are allowed as languages in education on the islands. But if youngsters speak only these two languages, they will lose a lot of time learning the Dutch language when they come here to study. “If they want to teach English on Saba, fine, but students should know Dutch when they come here,” said Plasterk.
Many schools and universities may offer English education, but the choice is still limited. “You are limiting these students when they can only attend English-based schools,” the Minister said. Several persons attending Friday’s lecture pointed out that the language problem does not only concern Antilleans, but also many students from the Netherlands who have trouble with their own language. Plasterk acknowledged this.
The public further reminded the Minister that Antillean students were not the only ones who didn’t have the proper preparation for higher education, but that this problem also affected many Dutch students, with the low quality of education at a growing number of secondary schools in the Netherlands.
Diplomas
In his speech, Plasterk brought up the question whether the HAVO and VWO diplomas in the Netherlands Antilles were on the same level as those in the Netherlands. He said sometimes this caused problems when Antillean students came to the Netherlands. This too was disputed by several persons in the public.
The Minister admitted that secondary education was not always up to par in the Netherlands. But that aspect will be tackled. In the near future, students in the Netherlands will no longer obtain their diploma if they score more than one five in their exams.
Plasterk also tackled the issue of study financing and the study debt. That debt is in ‘hard Euros’ and has to be paid back. Students have to be aware of the fact that they will be incurring a study debt in Euros, which is an expensive currency. He promised that more would be done to inform students about this aspect properly.
BES islands
As Dutch Minister of Education, Plasterk will become responsible for education on Bonaire, Saba and St. Eustatius, the BES islands. That is a major responsibility which he intends to fulfil to the best of his ability. He added that integrating the islands into the Netherlands was a complex trajectory which had only just begun.
Proper preparation was important in this trajectory. He compared it to moving into a new house. “It is not wise to find out on moving day that the new house lacks waterlines,” he said. The Dutch Inspection of Education was currently making an inventory and a report should be forthcoming soon. “Together we’ll decide what needs to be done. There is a lot of backlog in maintenance,” he said.
Plasterk said his Ministry was committed to look after proper education on the BES islands. “A pessimist will say: that is a lot of work. An optimist, and I assume that we belong to this category, will say: we will work it out,” he said, assuring the people on the BES islands that they could count on his full support. The means to realise this are being made available in the budget of the Dutch Government.
Focus points where it comes to the Dutch contribution in education on all Antillean islands are the quality of education, the language of instruction, studying in the Netherlands and assistance for students in the Netherlands. He said it was important to have sufficient school books in the proper language of instruction on the islands.
Cultural heritage
Cultural heritage is another important aspect. Plasterk said a sum of 8 million Euros was being made available in the next three years through a revolving fund for monuments. Loans can be obtained with very low interest rates. He said he was happy to note that St. Maarten had already placed several buildings on the monument list and that St. Eustatius had approved the monument law in June this year.
Plasterk further announced that he was making available 500,000 Euros per year to give an injection to cooperation among cultural organisations in the Kingdom. The Kingdom Games are a good example of unity and cooperation among the partners in the Kingdom. The Minister said he intended to attend the next Kingdom Games in Aruba in July 2009. He will also visit the Antillean islands. It will be Plasterk’s first visit to the islands.
