Education in Belgium is regulated and for the larger part financed by one of the three communities: Flemish, French and German-speaking. All three communities have a unified school system with small differences from one community to another. The national government plays a very small role: it decides directly the age for mandatory schooling and indirectly the financing of the communities.
The schools can be divided in three groups (Dutch: netten; French: réseaux):
- Schools owned by the communities (GO! Onderwijs van de Vlaamse gemeenschap; réseau de la Communauté française)
- Subsidized public schools (officieel gesubsidieerd onderwijs; réseau officiel subventionné), organized by provinces and municipalities
- Subsidized free schools (vrij gesubsidieerd onderwijs; réseau libre subventionné), mainly organized by an organization affiliated to the Catholic church
The latter is the largest group, both in number of schools and in number of pupils.
Education in Belgium is compulsory between the ages of 6 and 18.
Read more about Education In Belgium: History, Stages of Education, Pre-school, Primary School, Secondary Education, Higher Education, Quality
Famous quotes containing the words education in and/or education:
“The principle goal of education in the schools should be creating men and women who are capable of doing new things, not simply repeating what other generations have done; men and women who are creative, inventive and discoverers, who can be critical and verify, and not accept, everything they are offered.”
—Jean Piaget (1896–1980)
“In my state, on the basis of the separate but equal doctrine, we have made enormous strides over the years in the education of both races. Personally, I think it would have been sounder judgment to allow that progress to continue through the process of natural evolution. However, there is no point crying about spilt milk.”
—Lyndon Baines Johnson (1908–1973)