On September 18th 2015 the PILP has written a letter together with Stichting Steunpunt Studerende Moeders, FNV Vrouw, Clara Wichmann Proefprocessenfonds and the Nederlandse Vrouwenraad to the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science. The ministry was asked to give answers to the letter that had formerly been sent by the Vereniging voor Vrouw en Recht (herein further: VVR).
The lack of regulation making studying possible for student mothers and pregnant students has been criticised in the letter of the VVR. In view of the VVR, gender-discrimination takes place in practice. Also the fact that there is no right to maternity leave during the study has been highlighted. In our letter we emphasised the numbers showing that 50% of the young mothers in the Intermediate Vocational Education drops out of school and for Universities of Applied Sciences this number reaches 75%.
Minister Bussekamer has replied to us via a comprehensive letter from January 18th 2016. We are content to see that she has taken our request seriously. In her letter, the minister explains that the responsibility to seek for flexible solutions within the education-agreement and the state-aid regulation lays with the educational institutions and respectively the municipalities concerned. According to the minister, any amendments in the regulation are unnecessary, although she does point out that she is interested to hear about the results of our research on the role of educational institutions during the study of pregnant students and student mothers.
The PILP will be discussing possible future activities with the above-mentioned pressure groups.
Here you can read the letter (in Dutch) from the minister of Education, Culture and Science.