The number of Belgian students receiving social integration income from the CPAS (Public Centre for Social Welfare) increased from 3,654 to 27,133 between 2002 and 2016. The figure has multiplied 7.4 times in 15 years according to the Minister of Social Integration, Willy Borsus (MR), reported the Dernière Heure on Thursday.
In 2002, the number of students receiving social integration income was 615 in Brussels, 847 in Flanders and 2192 in Wallonia. Four years later, 8,263 students were living with the aid of a CPAS in Brussels, with 5,400 and 13,470 in the North and South of the country.
"It is questionable", concedes Minister Borsus. "It is for this reason that I have asked my services to investigate the causes in order to take the appropriate measures to reduce this number. It is in this context that I wish to set up a genuinely student-oriented PIIS "I will issue instructions to the CPAS this summer to go in this direction", he said.
The student social integration income figures show a very unequal increase in poverty between the three regions of the country. The decline of francophones in relation to Flanders is intensifying.
The Brussels Times
