D66 seeks clarity on National Ombudsmans’ students report

The Demo­cratic Party D66 in the Sec­ond Chamber of the Dutch Parliament wants to see concrete action following a report of the Dutch Na­tional Ombudsman about the obstacles that Dutch Caribbean students face in the Netherlands.

D66 Members of Parlia­ment (MPs) Antjc Dier­tens and Jan Paternotte on Thursday, submitted written questions to Min­ister of Education, Culture and Science Ingrid van En­gelshoven and State Secre­tary of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations Ray­mond Knops in an effort to get answers about this long­standing issue.

“Which signals of obstacles of students from the Carib­bean part of the Kingdom were already known before the investigation, and what steps did you take to miti­gate this?” asked the MPs in reference to the many challenges that the Na­tional Ombudsman cited in his report in relation to finances, health, education, preparations, information and housing.

“What is your reaction to the observation of the Na­tional Ombudsman that the support to students from the Dutch Caribbean is lag­ging compared to the sup­port that other internation­al students receive?” Dier­tens and Paternotte asked about the recommenda­tions in the Ombudsman report.

The MPs wanted to know in what manner the uni­versities and schools in the Netherlands prepared students from outside the Netherlands for a life in the Netherlands, whether these information sources and activities were also ac­cessible for Dutch Carib­bean students, and whether the schools and universities gave content to the obliga­tion to take the situation and interests of this group of incoming students into account.

Diertens and Paternotte asked why Dutch Carib­bean students could not get Dutch health care insur­ance and care allowance, as a result of which they need to take more expensive, in­ternational health care in­surance.

As for finding suitable, affordable housing in the Netherlands, the MPs en­quired what assistance was available for the Dutch Caribbean students. They also wanted to know how the students could be as­sisted with the providing of a Citizen Service Number (“Burger service nummer (BSN)”) which is needed for all official transactions in the Netherlands.

Referring to the observa­tions of the Ombudsman about the repayment of Dutch DUO study-financ­ing loans, the MPs asked the minister and state sec­retary whether they were aware of the obstacles that the Dutch Caribbean stu­dents faced. The MPs re­quested the arrangement of a better, more suitable re­payment scheme that took the generally lower salaries and higher costs of living on the islands into account.

Diertens and Paternotte wanted to know what ar­rangements were in place to facilitate the study of medical science by Dutch Caribbean students, also to prevent shortages of lo­cal medical doctors on the islands.

The Daily Herald.