Belgium Vows to Remove Asbestos from Schools with £3.2b Euro Investment

At the start of the legislature in 2024, the Flemish Education Minister Zuhal Demir (nationalist) announced that she intended to invest more in school buildings. In order to finance some of the investment in school infrastructure she took measures including cuts to the budget for school laptops.

The annual investment budget for school building will rise from 571 million euro this year to 750 million euro per annum in 2029. In total 3.2 billion euro will be invested in the renovation of existing school buildings and the construction of new schools. This constitutes the biggest ever investment in school buildings.

In addition to new school buildings, old buildings, will be renovated, improved accessibility  and the modernisination of infrastructure to make it meet current needs.

Ms Demir told journalists that

“We’re not starting from scratch. But the backlog is enormous: waiting lists, old buildings, energy inefficiency.”

Ms Demir also announced measure to ensure that asbestos is completely removed from all Flemish schools. A decreet to this effect was approved in the Education Select Committee of Flemish Parliament.

“Asbestos has no place in an environment where children play and learn every day. That is why we will reimburse 100% of costs incurred for the removal asbestos. Not 60%, not 70%, but in full.”

According to a report that will be published officially tomorrow, 61% of schools still have at least some asbestos present in their buildings.