Political situation

The term of office of a cabinet coincides with the term of office of the House of Representatives, namely four years. However, it is not self-evident that all cabinets will complete this term. In the event of an interim crisis, the House of Representatives is dissolved and new elections are held. A new cabinet will be formed on the basis of the newly elected House of Representatives. 

The Schoof cabinet has been in office since July 2024. It is a parliamentary cabinet, formed by the Party for Freedom (PVV), People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), New Sociaal Contract (NSC) and BoerBurgerBewegingFarmer-Citizen Movement (BBB) under the chairmanship of the nonpartisan Prime Minister Dick Schoof. At its inception, the Schoof Cabinet was supported by 88 of the 150 members of the House of Representatives and 30 of the 75 members in the Senate.

PVV, VVD, NSC and BBB presented a outline agreement called “HOPE, LEF AND TROTS” on May 16, 2024, which included a stricter asylum policy, the intention to repeal the spreading law (intends to spread the reception of refugees and asylum seekers across all municipalities in the Netherlands), a different electoral system in elections to the House of Representatives, establishment of a constitutional court, no forced reduction of the livestock population, no expropriation of farmers and horticulturists, reduction of the number of crimes that are statute-barred, introduction of a community service ban for physical violence against emergency workers, increasing penalties for serious crimes, and more than halving the individual monetary contribution for the deductible in health insurance. Another goal was to raise the language requirement for naturalization from A2 to B1 and increase the time limit for eligibility for Dutch citizenship from five to ten years of residence in the Netherlands.

Investments in education

In 2015, in total 62 billion euro's was allocated to education, including the research that universities of applied sciences and academic universities implement as part of their legitimate task and in the form of contract research for thirds. Within the government, the central government in particular spends more on education and research.

The national government has divided almost €50 billion across all educational sectors. Educational institutions receive one budget from the government for all their costs. This amount of money is called lumpsum. In addition, educational institutions receive additional money to improve the quality of education.

• Most of the money has been allocated to primary education (€16 billion) and secondary education (€19 billion);
• then tertiary education follows (€12,5 million).

The expenses per pupil
The budget of the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture mentions how much money there is available for each pupil. For example in 2021 there was €12.817 available per pupil in primary education. On average there was €17.908 available per pupil secondary education.

Government spending on educational institutions in % BBP (GDP)

Population: highest level of education achieved by age

More and more young people are opting for senior general secondary education (HAVO) and pre-university education (VWO). An increasing number of young people with a pre-vocational education certificate (VMBO) are staying in school in order to get a HAVO qualification.

In recent years more and more young adults (aged 18-25) have enrolled in higher education. As a result, the level of education of the population as a whole has improved.