Additional resources for part-time art education and adult educationPosted at 20:30h in education, Flemish Parliament by Stella VansummerenThe impact of the corona pandemic on our educational institutions is profound.

At the start of this school year, the number of pupils and trainees in part-time art education and adult education was measured. That is why the majority parties in the Flemish Parliament provide additional resources on the basis of an emergency decree to compensate the academies in part-time art education (DKO), adult education centres (CVO's) and centres for basic education (CBE's). Flemish MP Koen Daniëls (N-VA) responds with satisfaction: "In compulsory education and higher education, we always see a fairly stable number of pupils and students starting the school or academic year. This is not the case in part-time art education and adult education. Every year, the students decide for themselves whether or not to register. The corona measures made a number of them decide to stop or not to register. The financing of these centres depends to a large extent on these tenders. Without intervention, some centres would experience financial problems, especially next school year. That is why we are providing a compensation scheme today with an 'emergency decree corona'." Flemish MP Loes Vandromme (CD&V): "Corona puts a lot of pressure on part-time art education and adult education. The thriving part-time arts education in which our local authorities invest heavily, which fulfils the need of 200,000 pupils for expression and creation in a quality way, must not fall victim to the pandemic. Adult education, in turn, plays an important role in lifelong learning. After all, the pandemic just forces us to be with the digital train and to develop new competencies. We are therefore satisfied that the two levels of education will receive extra oxygen with this corona decree." Flemish MP Jean-Jacques De Gucht (Open Vld): "Both adult education and part-time art education have suffered severely from the corona crisis. Adult education focuses on basic skills (such as language and ICT), ensures optimal opportunities in the labour market through further education and retraining and thus plays a crucial role in the resurgence of our society. Part-time art education in turn ensures the development of artistic and social skills and competences. Given the great social importance of both levels of education, we want to use this corona decree to take the necessary measures to limit or remediate the negative effects of the crisis as much as possible."