Education: childcare places, school dropout and Cocof/VGC tensions

RPD commitments

The Regional Policy Declaration addresses education and training from the perspective of regional and community competences exercised in Brussels:

Early childhood

• Creating childcare places — investment plan to increase capacity, coordinated with ONE (FWB) and Opgroeien (Flemish Community)
• Financial accessibility — maintaining and strengthening regional subsidies for childcare facilities

School dropout

• Anti-dropout action plan — coordination between Region, Cocof, VGC and both Communities
• Actiris Jeunes — integration measures for young people leaving school without a diploma
• Vocational education — strengthening technical and professional streams, aligned with Brussels labour market needs

Bilingualism and coordination

• Promoting FR/NL bilingualism — in schools and vocational training
• Cocof/VGC coordination — harmonising French-speaking and Dutch-speaking education policies in Brussels
• School mobility — transport and accessibility of schools across the 19 municipalities

Education governance in Brussels

Education in Brussels falls primarily under the Communities (FWB and Flemish Community), but the Region intervenes through:

• Cocof — transferred competences in French-speaking education (continuing education, lifelong learning)
• VGC — Dutch-speaking competences in education, culture and welfare. Approximately 100,000 students (from kindergarten to adults) attend Dutch-language education in Brussels daily, representing over 20% of Brussels children. The VGC manages the former provincial Dutch-language schools (since 1995) and subsidises school capacity expansion. Recent example: EUR 450,000 investment in a new campus for the Atheneum Brussel (360 to 510 places, construction starting February 2026); in June 2026, the VGC approved a 3.15 million EUR investment for the Sint-Joris primary school in Brussels-City (two classrooms and a new sports hall, +44 places). On the Dutch-speaking side the trajectory of the VGC (school-level education) remains one of capacity investment; the Dutch-speaking higher education sector (VUB), however, is also subject to the Flemish Community's savings plan (see "Higher education under pressure" below), just as the French-speaking network (FWB) is undergoing the programme-decree described further down
• Actiris / Bruxelles Formation / VDAB Brussel — vocational training and youth integration. VDAB Brussel operates a training centre in Sint-Joost-ten-Noode, targeting Dutch-speaking and allophone jobseekers (retail, healthcare, administration, Dutch as a second language)

BOA: transition to VGC (September 2026)

The BOA decree (Buitenschoolse Opvang en Activiteiten — out-of-school care and activities) has been in force since 2021, with a transition phase running until August 2026. From September 2026, the VGC will assume full management of Dutch-speaking out-of-school care in Brussels: policy, local accreditation framework, budget allocation and partner coordination. The old quality label for childcare facilities will be discontinued in favour of the new VGC framework.

DPC Commitments (COCOF, 23 February 2026)

The Community Policy Declaration (DPC) of COCOF, presented to the Francophone Brussels Parliament on 23 February 2026, includes several education commitments:

• Tackling school dropout — stated priority, in coordination with FWB and the Region
• Vocational training — strengthening through Bruxelles Formation (overseen by Boris Dilliès, MR)
• Increasing childcare places — investment in coordination with ONE (childcare overseen by Karine Lalieux, PS)
• BX1 subtitling — in Dutch, English and for accessibility (education/media measure)

The split of Employment (Hublet, Les Engages) and Training (Dilliès, MR) competences between two different COCOF ministers is a concern raised by the opposition.

Teachers' strike CSC: 18 → 27 May 2026

The CSC-Enseignement trade union has called teachers in the Wallonia-Brussels Federation network to a strike from Monday 18 to Tuesday 27 May 2026. The first day of mobilisation was confirmed by Le Vif on 18 May, which reported an expected intensification over the course of the strike week (18–27 May). The mobilisation takes place in the wake of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation programme decree under examination in Parliament (≈ €500M of savings by 2029, secondary-school teachers moving from 20 to 22 weekly teaching hours) and against the backdrop of the validation by the Wallonia-Brussels Federation government, on 15 May, of the organisation of the new 1st year of secondary (Common Core / Pact for Excellence). Direct impact for Brussels schools in the French-speaking network. PS deputy Martin Casier publicly reacted on 19 May to the reforms led by Wallonia-Brussels Federation minister Valérie Glatigny (MR): "school is being attacked from all sides".

Sources: Le Vif — Strike call 18-27 May (15 May 2026); Le Vif — First day of strike (18 May 2026); RTBF — Wallonia-Brussels Federation validates the new 1st year of secondary (15 May 2026); Le Soir — Casier (19 May 2026). Confidence: official.

FWB programme-decree definitively adopted (night of 4–5 June 2026)

The Parliament of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation definitively adopted the programme-decree on Friday 5 June 2026, shortly after 04:00, after a plenary session of about fourteen hours. The MR-Engagés majority voted in favour; the opposition (PS, PTB, Ecolo) voted against; one majority MP abstained. The text translates the French Community's budgetary effort: about 500 million EUR in cumulative savings by 2029, on a budget of about 15 billion EUR.

Definitive measures affecting French-speaking Brussels education (libre, WBE and municipal French-speaking networks):

• Upper-secondary teaching load: +10% (from 20 to 22 weekly hours, grades 4-5-6), without salary compensation
• Sick leave: less generous scheme for tenured teachers
• End-of-career (DPPR): tightened scheme
• Higher-education registration fee (minerval): raised to 1,194 EUR for 58% of students from the 2026-2027 academic year

4 June mobilisation in Brussels. Several thousand demonstrators — teachers and pupils — gathered around the FWB Parliament during the session. The day was marked by incidents: fires at place de l'Albertine and near the station, firecrackers and fireworks outside Parliament, intrusion into the building and a smoke bomb thrown inside (alarm triggered, situation quickly brought under control), a student gathering dispersed near Brussels-Central station (scooters set on fire), and firefighters forced to interrupt an intervention, with individuals trying to climb onto their vehicle. Around ten people were arrested on Thursday.

Announced follow-up. According to BX1, unions threaten to disrupt end-of-year exams. The French-speaking network's inter-union strike notice runs until 10 July 2026.

Sources: La Libre — vote (5 June); RTBF — recap (5 June); Le Vif — what changes (5 June); La Libre — firefighters (4 June); BX1 — arrests (5 June); BX1 — exams (5 June). Confidence: official (vote and incidents corroborated by several sources); the precise demonstrator count and the exam-disruption threat are press-reported (attribution).

End-of-year exams 2026: external tests maintained, internal ones case-by-case (June 2026)

In the wake of the conflict, the holding of June exams in French-speaking Brussels schools was decided differently from one school to another.

• External certification tests maintained: the CEB (6th year of primary, 18-23 June), the CE1D (2nd year of secondary, 19-25 June) and the CESS (6th year of secondary, 19 and 22 June) are compulsory and held. The French Community government recalled that these tests are anchored in a decree and must therefore be organised.
• Internal exams: case-by-case. Wallonia-Brussels Enseignement (WBE) left each school to decide. According to BX1, Brussels schools took varied approaches: outright cancellation (e.g. Singelijn), lightened sessions limited to failed subjects (e.g. Institut de la Vierge Fidèle, Don Bosco, Collège Saint-Michel, Institut des Dames de Marie), or assessment restricted to subjects actually taught during the strike period (e.g. in Anderlecht).
• For context outside Brussels, the Province of Liège cancelled end-of-year exams in its thirteen secondary schools.

The French-speaking network's inter-union strike notice runs until 10 July 2026.

Sources: BX1 — Cancellation, retention or lightening: what to expect for the June exams (2 June 2026). Confidence: official on the retention of external certification tests (decree framework); unconfirmed on school-by-school decisions (reported by the press).

Higher education under pressure: VUB and FWB registration fee (April-June 2026)

Brussels higher education is under strain on both language sides.

Dutch-speaking side — VUB. The Vrije Universiteit Brussel (over 4,000 staff, about two-thirds of them academic) must absorb a savings plan imposed by the Flemish Community. The plan called for around 24 million EUR in savings for 2026, of which 14 million EUR on staff and 10 million EUR on operations. An agreement reached in late April 2026 with the Flemish Education Minister's office (N-VA) allowed the staff savings to be spread over five years to avoid outright collective dismissals. On 16 June 2026 the VUB put the measure concretely into effect: a first dismissal, a voluntary-departure framework open until 30 September 2026 (financial exit arrangements discussed case-by-case), with priority given to natural attrition (retirements) and a hiring freeze.

French-speaking side — FWB. The programme-decree adopted on 5 June raises the higher-education registration fee to 1,194 EUR for 58% of students from the 2026-2027 academic year (see the section on the programme-decree above).

This is a V4 signal: the decisions belong to the Communities (Flemish for the VUB, French for the registration fee), but they apply directly to higher-education institutions based in Brussels and their students.

Sources: BRUZZ — VUB starts staff savings (16 June 2026) ; VRT NWS — VUB may spread Flemish savings over five years (28 April 2026). Confidence: unconfirmed (press; the VUB confirms the first dismissal and the voluntary-departure framework).

Wallonia-Brussels Federation education conflict: vote postponed to 10 June, strike extended until 10 July (26 May 2026)

On Tuesday 26 May 2026, the government of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation postponed to 10 June the final vote on the programme decree, originally scheduled for 27 May. In step with that decision, the inter-union strike notice in the French-speaking network has been extended until 10 July 2026, i.e. the very end of the school year. The Flemish business press (Trends) summed it up: « the school strike will probably last until 10 June, possibly until 10 July ».

Principals' demonstration in Brussels (26 May): that same day, several hundred (≈ 400 according to the PS) principals of Catholic secondary schools, of the WBE network (Wallonia-Brussels Education) and of FELSI (Federation of Independent Subsidised Schools) — accompanied by teachers, secretarial staff and even pupils — gathered from 10:00 outside the headquarters of Les Engagés in Brussels. A delegation was received by the president of Les Engagés. Quote from the president of FEADI (federation of Catholic secondary school principals): « What we are asking Les Engagés is to relaunch a genuine consultation with the field, which is extremely difficult with the [Glatigny] minister. »

First-secondary reform — green light in Wallonia-Brussels Federation commission (26 May): in parallel, the reform of the first year of secondary school (Common Core / Pact for Excellence) was approved in commission at the Wallonia-Brussels Federation Parliament after eight hours of debate. On 15 May, the Wallonia-Brussels Federation government had already validated the organisation of this new first secondary year.

Why it matters for Brussels: the Wallonia-Brussels Federation is the organising or subsidising authority for almost all French-speaking education in Brussels. The programme decree, the common-core reform and the extended strike notice apply directly to French-speaking Brussels schools (free, WBE, French-speaking municipal) and their ≈ 165 secondary establishments. This is a V4 signal: the decision is community-level, but it shapes the schooling of the majority of Brussels children.

Sources: La Libre — Principals gathered in Brussels (26 May 2026); Trends — Vote 10 June, strike possibly until 10 July (26 May 2026); Le Soir — Green light in commission for first-secondary reform (26 May 2026). Confidence: official on the postponement and the commission; unconfirmed on the union turnout figure.

Sources and methodology

The commitments documented above come from the official RPD text and corroborating press sources covering the government agreement of 12 February 2026. Indicators (childcare coverage, dropout) come from ONE, Opgroeien, IBSA and Eurostat.