2023-12-05 17:45:00
Questioned on the subject in the Parliament committee by MP Jean-Pierre Kerckhofs (PTB, opposition), Ms. Désir indicated that the idea of a cap still did not achieve consensus among education stakeholders, despite months of consultation.
“The whole difficulty is to determine the amounts and the mechanisms which would make it possible to guarantee the most perfect accessibility to travel, but without making their organization impossible,” the minister commented on Tuesday.
Faced with this blockage on cost capping, Ms. Désir announced on Tuesday that a working group had been set up to consider possible “alternative regulatory mechanisms”, without further details.
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Last January, the Minister of Education showed her desire to limit the fees charged to parents for organizing school trips, which sometimes exceed a thousand euros.
The announced objective was to put this cap in place from the start of the 2024 school year.
But a few months before the end of the legislature, and given the persistent blockages, any rapid progress on this issue now seems uncertain.
In his reply, MP Kerckhofs also encouraged the minister to no longer wait for a hypothetical consensus within the sector to move forward.
“At some point, we have to decide!” urged the elected Marxist. “Schools that do not want these ceilings are using these prospects of high prices to select their public, and this is unacceptable,” he commented.
Last July, the PTB proposed limiting the cost of these trips and excursions to 400 euros for primary level, and 600 euros for secondary school.
The idea was, however, rejected by the PS-MR-Ecolo majority, the latter justifying its refusal by the consultation carried out at the time by Minister Désir with the sector.
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