Education: childcare crisis (10,000 places missing), FWB −74M

Government agreement: announced impacts

According to corroborating press sources, the agreement of 12 February 2026 includes several measures that impact the education and training sector:

• 70% employment target: vocational training is a central lever for achieving this goal. Bruxelles Formation and accredited training providers will be called upon to strengthen qualifying pathways
• Actiris support deadline reduced from 5 to 3 months: this acceleration requires closer coordination between Actiris, Bruxelles Formation and VDAB Brussels
• Bilingualism: Masterplan Tweetaligheid -- the agreement announces a Masterplan for bilingualism (training of regional civil servants, municipal services, hospitals). Education remains a community competence, but regional coordination can resume
• Administrative reform (merger of pillars): Bruxelles Formation could be affected by the reorganisation of the 25 regional structures into 3 to 4 entities

Point of attention: the end of the caretaker period allows training programmes, school renovations and frozen education subsidies to be unblocked. However, the budgetary effort means that not all pending initiatives will be funded simultaneously.

Childcare crisis (February 2026)

A structural deficit

For 2 out of 3 parents, finding a childcare place remains "difficult or very difficult" (Ligue des Familles). The deficit reaches up to 10,000 places in the Brussels Region to guarantee equal access.

Between 2019 and 2023, the Federation Wallonia-Brussels lost more than 1,500 places due to bankruptcies and closures of childcare facilities.

Plan Cigogne

Plan Cigogne provides for 1,700 new places in Brussels and 1,800 in Wallonia (3,500 in total). But opening a single childcare place requires 7 to 9 years of administrative procedures and construction.

FWB cuts to early childhood

The 2026 FWB budget provides for 74 million EUR in cuts to the early childhood sector (ONE, nurseries, childcare centres) -- while the shortage persists. The non-indexation of subsidies compounds these reductions.

Cumulative FWB savings reach 500 million EUR over 4 years (2026-2029), affecting education, early childhood, culture, youth and sport.

Sources: Moustique, "childcare shortage: why finding a place remains an obstacle course", January 2026; BruxellesToday, "up to 10,000 missing childcare places"; RTBF, "planned savings in the early childhood sector", 2026.

Dutch-speaking education and early childhood

Dutch-speaking education in Brussels has 53,600 students (2024-25), ~150 primary and ~60 secondary schools — one in five Brussels students. GO! Scholengroep Brussel is the largest network (102 institutions, 22,530 students).

The VGC invests in school campuses: STREAM (Anderlecht, 1,280 places, Sept 2025), Campus Elsene (EUR 60M, 1,150 places, Sept 2026), Atheneum Brussel expansion (360→510 places, 2028). The Onderwijscentrum Brussel (OCB) provides pedagogical support with ~90 staff across ~150 schools.

On the daycare side, Brussels averages 51 places per 100 children (ages 0-3), with sharp inequalities (Koekelberg: 26, Auderghem: 80). Opgroeien (Flemish Community) plans ~850 new places via the Masterplan Kinderopvang (2025). Staff shortages remain a bottleneck: 350 children without care despite available capacity.

Sources: VGC, "Onderwijs in Brussel", vgc.be; BRUZZ, "Kinderopvang telt 51 plaatsen per 100 kinderen", June 2025; GO! Scholengroep Brussel, scholengroepbrussel.be.