Out of 4,344 Dutch-speaking schools in Flanders and Brussels, 2,798 (64%) will start working with an online registration procedure for their enrolments from the next school year, according to the Flemish Minister of Education Ben Weyts (N-VA).
The regional Flemish Parliament approved new school enrolment rules in early 2022, which are designed to make the process easier, and prevent parents from camping outside schools on the day enrolments open – which is common in the Dutch-speaking education sector.
It will also help guarantee maximum freedom of choice for parents. The decree stipulates, among other things, that oversubscribed schools are obliged to use a digital enrolment system.
The scheme will come into force for the first time during the enrolment period for the 2023-2024 school year. The figures show that out of a total of 4,344 school establishments (primary and secondary education) in Flanders and in Dutch-speaking education in Brussels, 2,789 establishments, or 64.2%, use a notification procedure.
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Flemish schools in the Brussels-Capital Region and schools in the cities of Antwerp and Ghent are already working with an online enrolment system because of the high capacity pressure.
School boards and local consultation platforms could indicate until 15 November 2022 whether they wanted to organise a registration procedure.
The application period itself runs during March and April, for primary and secondary education respectively. Afterwards, the favourably ranked pupils will have the chance to enrol in the school of their choice.
