Over 7,000 certified teachers are out of the classroom on leave of absence, which cost the Wallonia-Brussels Federation more than 114 million euro in 2017, Sudpresse newspapers reported on Tuesday. “The number of teachers on leave of absence in 2017 was 7,012”, Education Minister Marie-Martine Schyns said in response to a query from cdH (Humanist Democratic Centre) parliamentarian François Desquesnes. She explained that 13.5% of the teachers concerned had been placed on leave of absence because they had no jobs. This amounted to 956 teachers according to calculations by the newspapers. Another 47.2% (3,340) were granted pre-retirement leave on personal grounds.
Another 21.7% (1,536) were granted leave for medical reasons, 14.3% for reasons of personal convenience and 3.1% (220) for official business. In eight cases (0.1%) leaves of absence were granted for disciplinary reasons.
“The most frequent situation is therefore full-time, quarter-time, half-time or one-third time pre-retirement leave,” Minister Schyns said. “The average duration of the leave of absence is 242 days over 10 years (…) Leaves of absence globally represented a budget of 114,275,232 euro in 2017.”
The Brussels Times
