Minister Bussemaker praises the students of the Noorderpoort College in Groningen.

Students of the Noorderpoort College in Groningen visited Minister Jet Bussemaker of Education in The Hague. They explained to her all about the Auxiliary project for Romania. It is supported by project leaders Frank Broeders and Hans Buissink. The students work intensively for three weeks to build an educational center in the village of Tichendael.  The students learn new skills, to be able to work independently, but above all they have the opportunity to broaden their horizons. The village of Tichendael is experiencing immense poverty and now, because of this project and its success, will soon have a beautiful educational center. The students left Sunday evening April 30th and return on Friday May 19th.

Minister Jet Bussemaker was very impressed with the presentation and insisted that ‘a further roll-out of this project is to be carried out’.

The project had already been noted by Bussemaker Deputy Minister. The project was supported in Groningen by project leaders Frank Broeders and Hans Buissink. A few students and supervisors already met the minister before their departure. The minister expressed how she was very impressed with the presentation of the ‘Groningers’ and that 'further rolling out of this project is being warmed'.

It was the fourth successful trip throughout the beginning of the project that a group of MBO students from the Noorderpoort in Groningen went to a poor village in the center of Romania to work on the educational center. This project, once proposed as a private initiative, was quickly embraced by a number of foundations, educational institutions and the Leonardo/Erasmus+ Fund.

The goal of this project was and is twofold: provide structural assistance in this village by means of the realization of an educational center to be built which can then eventually break the cycle of children not receiving the right to education. Local residents are arranged to help the project for this purpose. On the other hand, 20 MBO students, including Level 1 and Level 2, receive an unforgettable work and social experience.

The students in the first year of building were mainly from the Noorderpoort college. In the second year, several students from the Alfa College joined in on this project. In 2017, there was also 6 students from the Terra MBO from Groningen and Meppel.

It is expected that this educational centre will be almost fully completed in 2019, where both the interior and exterior are finished. In addition to the necessary attention and publicity of local media, various interested parties are kept informed via social media and their own blog (www.blogroemenie.com), which is constantly being updated.

The project received a ‘very good’ appraisal from the Erasmus fund, and it has been nominated for an international prize.

Dutch source: http://www.groc.nl/nieuws/lof-van-minister-bussemaker-in-den-haag-voor-groningse-studenten