Education

Article 24 of the Belgian constitution introduces the basic principles of education; the German-speaking Community is competent to act on every level of these principles:

• Kindergartens;
• Primary schools;
• Secondary schools;
• Special schools;
• Further education;
• Universities.

This competence is vast and includes:

• Teachers wages;
• Fellowships;
• Schools and boarding schools;
• Curricula;
• School transport;
• School holidays;
• ....

Since the modification of article 130 of the Constitution on 20th May 1997, the German-speaking community has also the competence of language use in school-teaching.

According to article 24 of the Constitution, everyone is entitled to free education. In other words, parents are free to sent their children to a communitarian, communal or private school.

The Communities are legally required by the Constitution to work out a neutral school-teaching system that takes the philosophical, ideological and religious ideas of the parents and children into account. Furthermore, the constitution stipulates that the law or the decree equally applies to pupils or students, parents, staff and schools.

In comparison with these constitutional principles, the Federal state is only competent to determine the following matters:

• the compulsory education length;
• the minimum requirements for awarding a diploma;
• the pension in the education field.