The municipality of Eindhoven is allocating additional funding to continue the ‘Rich School Day’ programme, despite budget cuts from the national government. For the 2025-2026 school year, the municipality is making a one-time allocation of €1.2 million for this purpose. This will allow approximately 3,500 children to participate in extra activities during school.
Music lessons, sports and games, and cooking classes are all extracurricular activities available to primary school children in Eindhoven. A group of children at De BoschAkker primary school in Tongelre is taking a theatre class on Monday afternoon.
“These children might otherwise never encounter theatre, because theatre classes are expensive,” says Ruud van Helvert, director of De Boschakker. “Now they can experience it in an accessible way and in a safe environment,” he continues.
Missing Out
The fact that children at De BoschAkker receive theatre lessons is funded by the municipality of Eindhoven. “Due to cuts to national subsidies, we would actually be left out.”
Van Helvert is therefore thrilled that the municipality is stepping in. Without the municipality’s additional investment, five other schools in Eindhoven, in addition to the BoschAkker, would not be able to continue the program.
Cutbacks
The municipality already allocates €400,000 annually for the Rich School Day, as stipulated in the administrative agreement. However, an additional €1.2 million has been added on an incidental basis. This fully offsets the national budget cut, creating room for expansion. Last school year, 31 primary schools participated; this year, there are 40.
Currently, a total of 3,460 students are discovering new things through the Rich School Day. Alderman Stijn Steenbakkers (Education) expects this number to increase in the future. “I hope the national government realises that this shouldn’t be cut back.”
Results
The municipality has announced that research agency SEO Economic Research will continue to investigate the effects of ‘Rijke Schooldag’ (Rich School Day) on equal opportunities, dropout rates, and youth care in the coming months. The results are expected in February 2026.
The alderperson for education is even “firmly convinced” that investing in ,’Rijke Schooldag’ will ultimately save the government a lot of money. “This will save a huge amount of money for youth care.”
However, the additional €1.2 million is only valid for one school year. Suppose the city council approves the 2026 budget on Tuesday evening. In that case, an additional €2.4 million will be added, allowing the additional activities for primary schools to continue at least until the end of the 2027/2028 school year.
Source: Studio040
Translate: Beyim Göçü
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