The results of a survey after a Catholic Education Flanders survey together with parent umbrella organization VCOV are shocking. More than 64 percent of special education students are still on the road for more than two hours a day. De Morgen, for example, writes that they know that almost half (48,5 percent) of schools pick up their first student before 6.30 am. In nine out of ten (93,8 percent) this is the case before 7 am. 

The government spends 70 million euros on the organization of student transport, excluding the wages of the bus drivers. An amount that has remained unchanged for years, despite the increase in the number of pupils in special education and the rising operating costs of the transport companies. However, Mobility Minister Lydia Peeters already announced in September that she would immediately release 1,8 million euros to resolve these situations. That money had to go to, among other things, the students for whom there were no buses at that time and to prevent additional journey times that would have been added this school year.

“A bus has to pick up up to 90 students at home. Because the number of schools with special education is small, our students come from an area that roughly stretches from Sint-Katelijne-Waver to Mortsel and everything in between. The journeys are classified as efficiently as possible by De Lijn using a special application, but even then our largest bus round is a single journey of XNUMX kilometers long, through villages and cities in heavy traffic.”

bold policy

The long travel times and the unadjusted circumstances have been a major complaint for years, according to Lieven Boeve, director-general of Catholic Education Flanders, which finally demands a decisive policy from the competent ministers. The way in which the buses are filled is also problematic. Only travel times and pick-up and drop-off points are taken into account and the pedagogical needs of the students are not taken into account. 

A toilet visit is not included on the way. Some students have to wear a diaper because the bus ride is too long. Food and drinks are usually not allowed in the driver's bus. “Other children can physically lose their energy after school, our students are expected to sit still for another two hours,” says Tom Vermeulen, team responsible for special education at Katholiek Onderwijs Vlaanderen.

call

VCOV and Catholic Education Flanders call on the Flemish Government, and in particular ministers Lydia Peeters and Ben Weyts, to work out a structural solution together. “Flanders can no longer accept inhumane student transport.”

Also read: Approach to special education student transport

Student transport
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