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)
• 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 (ongoing)

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 ("the movement is expected to gain scale in the coming days"). 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.

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.