The regional Flemish Government will now fully reimburse asbestos removal costs in schools, Flemish Minister of Education Zuhal Demir (N-VA) announced on Saturday.
Many Flemish schools still contain asbestos, a carcinogenic substance banned in Belgium in the late 1990s.
A 2018 survey by the waste management authority OVAM revealed that the likelihood of asbestos presence in school buildings was over 90%.
Previously, schools could receive a reimbursement of 60 to 70 percent of removal costs. Demir has now increased this to 100 percent.
"We are doing this to protect the most vulnerable, our children, who spend a lot of time in school buildings, which should be a safe and healthy environment," said Demir, urging schools to submit their applications.
Since 2018, of the more than 2,400 schools that reported to OVAM, 520 have been declared asbestos-safe, according to Demir. She expects this number to significantly increase in the coming years.
The minister has allocated an average of 5.4 million euros per year for the full reimbursement. This funding will come from "internal reallocations within the existing budgets," she explained.
