2023-08-26 09:19:32
Despite rather positive figures, some parents regret the stress caused by this registration procedure. A collective called “Enfants non admis” has also sent a letter to politicians to denounce the difficulty of obtaining a school of their first choice in the North of Brussels.
“Today our children are excluded from all their schools because they have an unfavorable index”, lamented in July Sandra Michiels, member of the collective. According to this collective, the distance between the school establishment and the home is no longer as privileged as before, in favor of a socio-economic index which should allow more equitable access to education. A priori, this last index should reinforce social diversity in schools. Except that according to these parents, the opposite is happening, pushing the middle classes to go to schools in the south of Brussels, where there are more free places.
When my daughter ended up 38th on the waiting list for her first choice school down the street, I was flabbergasted.
But in the south of Brussels, some parents also mention their difficulties in the face of a registration procedure which they consider defective: “When my daughter ended up 38th on the waiting list for her first choice school down the street, I was flabbergasted”, testifies Michaël, resident of Uccle. For him, it is also incomprehensible that this criterion of proximity does not have more weight: “We live near the school and the registration decree does not consider the physical distance between school and home as a fundamental criterion in decision-making”. To ensure a place for his daughter, Michaël reluctantly preferred to choose the path of safety to establish his list of preferences: “My eldest daughter has a place in secondary school because we made strategic choices from the start (3 choices in total including 2 free schools from the same network and an athenaeum)”. And to continue: “Courage to parents who are still hoping for a place in the school of their first or second choice, there is still room in different schools and neighborhoods of the city, which means giving up”.
On the side of Minister Caroline Désir, the main problem remains, more generally, the lack of available places. “We have no control over that”explains the minister’s office. “It is the organizing powers that can make up for this deficit”.
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