The Belgian Minister of Education, Valérie Glatigny, is considering reforms to the support system for socio-economically disadvantaged students in Wallonia-Brussels, which currently benefits about a quarter of students.

Recent evaluations suggest that the existing structures and methods are not effectively ensuring that the allocated funds are used for targeted educational initiatives.

This support system, established in the late 1980s and costing around 100 million euros annually, provides additional funding to schools to hire more teachers and buy educational materials.

Funds are distributed based on the socio-economic index, with the most disadvantaged 10% of schools receiving 60% of the resources.

Despite the funding, recent assessments show that the performance gap between schools benefiting from the system and others has not narrowed, raising questions about its effectiveness.

Minister Glatigny has directed her administration to review all evaluations to better understand the system’s impact.

Discussions about potential changes to the support system are currently underway within her office.