Objection to rejection The Martin Buber not granted; Kerkrade submits new application

Kerkrade municipality's objection to the Minister of Education on the 2021 rejection to start Het Martin Buber (HMB) has been rejected. This means that HMB cannot start in August 2023. The Kerkrade municipality is disappointed, but is not giving up. Today the municipality submitted a new application to the Ministry of Education.   

Despite the fact that the Ministry of Education has not granted the appeal on the rejection of the 2021 application, the municipality of Kerkrade remains combative. In doing so, it will now fully focus on submitting a new application. This is possible thanks to the tremendous support from the community, which means that the required number of interest registrations of 628 needed to make this new application has been amply achieved with 660. These are statements from parents with children ages 10, 11 and 12.

Even greater focus on sense of citizenship

Alderman Jo Schlangen (Education): "We will not let this rejection on our appeal throw us off balance. The Martin Buber is a great educational concept and we did everything we could to make the second application successful. In that application, we formulated citizenship education the way the Inspectorate of Education would like to see it."

Search for suitable housing

No later than June 1, 2023, the Municipality of Kerkrade will hear from the Ministry of Education whether the second application will be approved. If so, Het Martin Buber can open its school gates in August 2024. Jo Schlangen: "Starting in August 2023 is not feasible anyway. Our focus is now entirely on August 2024." Meanwhile, preparations for the new school continue as usual. For example, the municipality is already busy looking for suitable housing as well as increasing the visibility of Het Martin Buber. One way it is doing this is by offering the Experience what you learn routes that are characteristic of this school.

Enough parent statements

The main reason for the rejection of the objection to last year's application, according to the Education Inspectorate, is that The Martin Buber has not yet made sufficiently concrete how it intends to embed citizenship education - an important criterion when founding a new school. The Martin Buber had already collected enough parental statements last year, but was not allowed to start because the content of the citizenship education would not be sufficiently substantiated.  

This decision was appealed by the municipality. This objection has now unfortunately been rejected. The Kerkrade municipality remains of the opinion that the content of citizenship education at The Martin Buber meets the legal requirements. It feels supported in this by two external, independent advisors. Parallel to the filing of the second application, the municipality is considering an appeal to the Council of State.