The City of Namur’s commercial and industrial school will be taken over by the Province of Namur from 1 January 2023, the parties said on Monday, confirming votes taken last week by the municipal and provincial councils.
The takeover is in line with the policy statement of the government of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation, which encourages voluntary cooperation and mergers between educational establishments for social promotion.
The aim is to “harmonise the range of training courses and strengthen the administrative and teaching resources of the establishments, while ensuring that the range of courses offered remains local,” according to the federation.
For the Province of Namur, the aim is to clearly position itself as the referential organising authority for social promotion.
The takeover should also enable it to extend its activities to promising sectors such as chemistry or IT, whereas the Provincial Institute for Social Training has so far been focusing mainly on health and personal assistance.
The changes for the staff will be limited to a minimum, the Province of Namur said.
The agreement specifies, among other things, that the rights of the teaching staff and educational assistants will be fully preserved. The training courses offered and the school’s programme will not be changed either.
Similarly, the intention remains to maintain a local base, while providing decentralised training.
